It's important to note by "inspiration for the Olympic Games" from Much Wenlock, that it's considered a forerunner for the MODERN Olympics, as the Olympics in general originated in ancient Greece! The mountain goat you showed at 7:59 isn't what they meant by goat. The mountain goat is native to North America and despite their name, they're not a true goat! They're not in the Capra genus, which is the genus that contains all true goats. Instead, they're in the genus Oreamnos (which they're the only living member of). So by the option of "mountain goat", they just meant an ordinary goat in the mountains (or perhaps a Chamois which are native to Bosnia but they're not true goats either), not a mountain goat which doesn't even live in Bosnia. Hidy and Howdy are wearing cowboy clothing and have those names because quite simply, that's what Calgary is famous for. Calgary is famous for the Calgary Stampede, which features one of the world's largest rodeos, agricultural competitions, concerts, chuckwagon racing, and indigenous exhibitions among other things. And the Saddledome, which was used as a venue for hockey and figure skating during the 1988 winter games, is used to host events for the Stampede. Miraitowa's (Mee-rai-TOE-a) name is a combination of the Japanese words "future" (未来, mirai) and "eternity" (永久, towa). According to the Tokyo 2020 organizers, the name "was chosen to promote a future full of eternal hope in the hearts of people all over the world" Bing Dwen Dwen's colorful ring (an ice ribbon) specifically comes from the design of the Beijing National Speed Skating Oval they built for the games (which replaced the former Olympic Green Hockey Field from the 2008 games), while the shell is a tribute to embracing new technologies for a future with infinite possibilities. Cobi's a Catalan sheepdog designed by Javier Mariscal and his Cubist style was inspired by the interpretations of Picasso of a masterpiece from Diego Velázquez called Las Meninas. Cobi's name was derived from that of the Barcelona Olympic Organising Committee (COOB). The 2002 mascots were chosen because not just they're native to Utah, but they're all major characters in local indigenous legends, hence why they're wearing petroglyph charms to remind them of their heritage! And worth mentioning regarding the Sochi 2014 mascots that in 2008, an unofficial election was held in Sochi for the mascot, and Sochians picked a dolphin (common dolphins are native to the Black Sea where Sochi is located) but the organizing committee was like "Nah, let the rest of the country decide". The most popular mascot choice was actually a frog named Zoich! Despite being a popular Internet character, the committee chose not to introduce it to the final round of the voting. Upon introduction and until the end of the online voting, it was the most popular mascot from those submitted. It also took only about 40 minutes for Zoich to take the top spot.
Miga is specifically part Kermode bear, which is an American black bear subspecies found only on the coast of British Columbia. Some of these bears are white, and the white variant is known as the spirit bear! According to First Nations’ legend, Kermode bears were turned white by Raven to remind people of the Ice Age. Orcas are also honored in the art and stories of West Coast First Nations, as travelers and guardians of the sea. And Mukmuk is specifically a Vancouver Island marmot, a rare species, and it is one of only five land mammals endemic to Canada. All of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic mascots represent a First Nation, as well as a part of the Vancouver region. Miga represents Vancouver and the Musqueam Indian Band, Quatchi represents West Vancouver and the Lil'wat First Nation, Sumi represents Whistler and the Squamish Nation, and the unofficial one Mukmuk represents Richmond and the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation. The four First Nations mentioned were the Four Host First Nations of the games, as part of a protocol they signed in 2004 in support of them. Miga lives off the coast of Vancouver Island, Quatchi lives in a mysterious forest, Sumi lives in Whistler, and Mukmuk lives on Vancouver Island. Mukmuk's name comes from the Chinuk Wawa word "muckamuck," meaning "food" or "to eat". And the Fuwa have a lot more symbolism! If you take a piece of each of their names, Bei, Jing, Huan, Ying, Ni, together, the names form the sentence "北京欢迎你/Beijing huanying ni," which means "Beijing welcomes you". While originally given artistic licence in his commission, Han Meilin was subsequently requested by officials to include various Chinese designs and fauna in the Fuwa. Huanhuan took his motif from not just the Olympic flame, but also the fire design from the Mogao Caves, a system of 500 Buddhist temples located southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province. Huanhuan's elemental motif is of course fire. Yingying wasn't just based off the Tibetan antelope, but also Tibetan and Xinjiang ethnic costumes. The Tibetan antelope is an endangered species native to the Tibetan Plateau, known for its swiftness. His elemental motif is earth. For Nini, a sand martin (bank swallow) is a messenger of spring and happiness in Chinese culture and is seen as a symbol of good fortune. The Chinese character for swallow (燕 yàn) is also used in Yanjing (燕京), an old name for Beijing. Thus, the swallow alludes to Beijing. Her elemental motifs are sky and metal. Jingjing's element motifs are the forest and wood. The panda has become an international symbol of environmentalism. Jingjing's forest origins also symbolize the harmonious coexistence of humankind and nature. And Beibei's elemental motif is of course water. In traditional Chinese culture, the fish represents prosperity, as the character for fish (鱼 / 魚; yú) sounds the same as that for surplus (余 / 餘; yú). The "carp leaping over the dragon gate" is a traditional allegory of following one's dreams and achieving them. The pattern from Beibei's headgear comes from artifacts unearthed at Banpo, site of a Neolithic village of the Yangshao culture.
The 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City had an unofficial mascot as well, named Chac Mool, a pink jaguar! Chac Mool means "great jaguar" in Yucatec Maya and was based off a throne of a pink jaguar found inside the Kukulkan/El Castillo pyramid at Chichén Itzá. Waldi was created by designer Otl Aicher, who was also responsible for designing the logo for Lufthansa! Waldi was based on a long-haired Dachshund named Cherie von Birkenhof. He was designed to match the colors of the Olympic rings, ergo, blue, yellow, orange and green. However, there were no black or red, which was a conscious decision by Aicher because those were colors related to the National Socialist Party's rule over Germany as they occupied much of Europe during WWII, thus they chose orange instead. And Vinicius de Moraes is no ordinary Brazilian musician, he was the co-writer of the famous bossa nova song The Girl from Ipanema! He wrote it alongside Antônio Carlos "Tom" Jobim, which is why the Rio 2016 mascots are named Vinicius and Tom! Vinicius represents Brazil's fauna while Tom represents its flora, and together, they symbolize Brazil having the greatest biodiversity on the planet! And for Tokyo 2020, it's a cool fact to mention regarding the vote that only elementary schools voted! Between December 2017 and February 2018, an election was conducted across 16,769 Japanese elementary schools to choose the winning entry, with each participating elementary school class allocated one vote. In total, 205,755 elementary school classes participated in the election, which was about 75% of elementary schools in Japan Hodori does NOT mean tiger in Korean! The "Ho" (호) part of Hodori is derived from the actual Korean word for tiger which is "horangi"/호랑이 (hence the horang part of Soohorang) while "dori" (돌이) is a diminutive for boys in Korean. As mentioned, Koreans chose a tiger for both 1988 and 2018 because while wild Amur/Siberian tigers are no longer found in Korea, tigers are historically important in Korean culture. The tiger is viewed as the guardian of the Korean people, and the Korean Peninsula is said to resemble a tiger. Baekho, the white tiger, is described in myths and narratives as a divine imaginary animal that watches over the mountains and nature. In the myth of Dangun, the founder of Gojoseon, a bear and a tiger wished to become human beings. The bear turned into a woman by observing the commandments to eat only mugwort and garlic for 100 days in a cave, but the tiger could not endure the ordeal and ran off, failing to realize its wish. The bear gave birth to Dangun. Pyeongchang 2018's Soohorang is the continuity of Hodori, while the Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympics's Bandabi is the continuity of Gomdoori from the 1988 Summer Paralympics.
Stoke Mandeville Hospital is essentially the birthplace of the Paralympics. Hence Mandeville the mascot for the London Games. Good choice of name but very weird looking mascot! I particularly like Tom from the Rio Paralympics and the Phryge from the forthcoming Paris Games. Not only is it cute, but I love how it has a running blade on one of its legs! ❤
You also forgot the 1964 Tokyo Japan Olympics mascot. The character was based on the Japanese folklore Kapa. Ashley I looked it up and yet there is a picture of the character.
You forgot to mention the GwimblyTales Lineup, including "GwimblyTales: All Tomorrows" "GwimblyTales: War of the Worlds" And of course, the game that killed that lineup "GwimblyTales: Neptune Project" Oh! And the cancelled 4th entry "GwimblyTales: I Have No Mouth".
Rio 2016 was my introduction to the Olympics and I've looked forward to both summer and winter games ever since. Vinicius was also my introduction to the Olympic Mascot and what a hell of an introduction. He is still a top 2 mascot for me to this day; Hodori is my #1. And then Sam The Eagle is #3 because 'Murica. 🇺🇸
Ngl parabit looks like one of those "Pikachu-clones" (due to the eyes). Vancouver and Rios ones are cream of the crop, though someity also cokes close. Also miraitowa also has super powers, his is teleportation. That said, i feel the Tokyo 2020 mascots would pull an Incredibles and choose to not use their powers when competing.
My favorite ones of these is definitely the snowlets, mostly because they evoke rowlet vibes. However wenlock is the one i have the most nostalgia for since 2012 was the only time i kind of actually dabbled in Olympics stuff (though i also like the hats).
the best of all is Vinicius from Rio 2016. Much more than a beautiful design. Vinicius has the charisma and joy of a Brazilian. I suggest you look for videos of him dancing
Someity and Miraitowa are my favorites by far! I'll rate them higher then 10! Another thing to note is that the 2 are almost always seen together, and the 2 still appear after the games! And still continue to have fanart made of them! Plus this video is a 10/10.
The cool thing is that when both were announced during sanremo 2024 (Italy's national song festival) as ideas given to the committee by high school students and the plant part was the 2nd place submission, they said they will be involved in some way even if they didn't win
