Mascots Wenlock and Mandeville, drops of steel with cameras for eyes, are all over London to get the British capital ready for the Summer Olympics. They represent the start of the Industrial Revolution in the U.K. One of them is named after the English village of Much Wenlock, which hosted a precursor of the modern Olympics in the 19th century, while the other gets its name from Stoke Mandeville, where the first Paralympic Games were held in 1948.
Vancouver offered a whole gang of mascots for its 2010 Winter Games. Miga, a mythical sea bear, and Quatch, a sasquatch, were joined by Sumi, an animal guardian spirit, and Mukmuk, who was not an official mascot, but the mascots' sidekick.
The Summer Games in China's Beijing featured Huanhuan and Yingying as two of their five mascots. Each represented one Olympic ring and one Feng Shui element. Plus, their five names together formed the Chinese phrase for "Beijing welcomes you."
Mascots Neve, a snowball, and Gliz, an ice cube, were the fitting mascots of the Turin Winter Olympics. They were created to reflect Italian passion, culture, elegance, enthusiasm and love of sport and the environment.
Remember the mascots of the historic Summer Olympics in Athens – way before anyone ever talked about the Greek financial crisis? Their names were Phebus and Athina. The brother-sister duo was supposed to symbolize two modern children resembling ancient Greek dolls.
The most recent U.S. Winter Games in Utah also did not have the typical two, but three mascots. Their names were Copper, Powder and Coal – all natural resources important to Utah. Also, a Native American legend says that the hare travels swifter, the coyote climbs higher and the bear is stronger than other animals. That echoed the Olympic motto: "swifter, higher, stronger."
Sydney's three Summer Games mascots had double meanings. All three were common wild animals found in Australia – the platypus, echidna (or spiny ant eater) and Kookaburra (a bird). Their names also had not-so-hidden meanings: Olly (for "Olympic"), Syd (from "Sydney") and Millie (for "millennium").
Four baby owls that love the snow, or the Snowlets, represented the Nagano Winter Olympics. They were supposed to represent the four major islands of Japan. Their names were Sukki, Nokki, Lekki and Tsukki – combine the first syllable of each name phonetically and you get the word "Snowlets."
The centennial Summer Olympics in the Southern U.S. used an abstract figure named Izzy (originally Whatizit for "What is it?") as their mascot. The first computer-generated mascot could morph into different forms. It was a departure from the tradition that mascots are generally an animal or human figure with significance to the host nation.
A young boy and a young girl dressed in Viking clothes meant a departure for the Olympic mascots that are typically funky creatures. But Lillehammer's Kristen and Haakon were meant to stand for all the kids of host nation Norway in 1994. And they were named after historical figures in the Scandinavian country: King Hakon and his aunt Kristin.