Dating back to Schuss, who was introduced for the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France, the Olympic Games have had a mascot or mascots for every Olympics since (with the exception of the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games and the 1972 Sapporo, Japan Winter Games). Beginnning with the Lake Placid Winter Games in 1980, mascots have learned to skate, pass, shoot and even tend goal, and as such they have made regular appearances on Olympic hockey pins. Often times these puck-crazy mascots are found on generic Olympic pins bearing the Olympic rings, symbol, location and date of the Games, as is the case below with Vuuchko (Sarajevo 1984), Howdy (Calgary 1988), Magique (Albertville 1992) , Tsukki (Nagano 1998), Neve & Gliz (Tornino 2006), and Quatchi & Miga (Vancouver 2010). Sometimes, a mascot will earn its way onto an NOC pin in support of a particular participating nation, as Roni did below (Lake Placid 1980). Others promote hockey venues, as did Haakon (Lillehammer 1994) for the Gjovik ice hockey venue, and the truly talented players might even land themselves a lucrative corporate sponsor deal and appear on a Olympic sponsor pin, like Coal, Copper and Powder did for Panasonic during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games.
However, not only Winter Olympic Games mascots love hockey. Below, the 1980 Moscow, Russia Summer Olympic mascot, Mischa, laced up the skates and grabbed a stick to pose for this rare, hard-to-find mascot pin.
And speaking of Summer mascot pins, though they have not yet taken to the ice as far as I know, what in the world are the 2012 London, England mascots? Wenlock, shown here dressed as a Queen's royal guard, and Mandeville, wearing a traditional Beefeater outfit, have already made their way onto dozens of pins over a year prior to the 2010 Summer Games . . . but I have no idea what species they might be. I am pretty sure they are the first single-eyed mascots to represent an Olympic Games.
Perhaps they are distant relatives of Izzy, the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics Games mascot that took his name from the query, "What
is he?"
However, not only Winter Olympic Games mascots love hockey. Below, the 1980 Moscow, Russia Summer Olympic mascot, Mischa, laced up the skates and grabbed a stick to pose for this rare, hard-to-find mascot pin. 
And speaking of Summer mascot pins, though they have not yet taken to the ice as far as I know, what in the world are the 2012 London, England mascots? Wenlock, shown here dressed as a Queen's royal guard, and Mandeville, wearing a traditional Beefeater outfit, have already made their way onto dozens of pins over a year prior to the 2010 Summer Games . . . but I have no idea what species they might be. I am pretty sure they are the first single-eyed mascots to represent an Olympic Games. 
Perhaps they are distant relatives of Izzy, the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics Games mascot that took his name from the query, "What is he?"
No comments:
Post a Comment