Collection of Olympics Mascots From 1968 to 2014

Schuss, a cartoon-like character on skis, was the unofficial mascot of the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble. Since then, every Olympic Games has had a mascot except for the 1972 Winter Games.

This mascot is created based on a throne in the shape of a red jaguar in the "El Castillo" pyramid at Chichen Itzá.

Waldi, a long-haired dachshund, was the first official Olympics mascot. He appeared in several flavors - his vertical stripes could contain any three of the five Olympic colors. Though Waldi ws available as a plush toy and a plastic toy, and appear on buttons, posters, and stickers, the pin bearing Waldi didn't come out until some years after the Olympics.

Schneeman, German for Snowman, was the first official mascot of the Winter Games. He was available as a plush toy and also appeared on pins and other souvenirs.

Amik, a beaver, was the mascot for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Amik means beaver in the Alqonquin language and the beaver is the national symbol of Canada.

Rocky, a live raccoon, was supposed to be the mascot of the 1980 Winter Olympics, but he died before the Games began. He was replaced by Roni, the first mascot to be shown in several different sporting poses on various products.

Victor Chizikov, an illustrator of children's books, designed Misha the bear, whose full name was Mikhail Potapych Toptygin. Chizikov spent six months drawing more than a hundred variations for use on many products. The sailing events had a separate mascot of their own, Vigri the seal.

Readers of Yugoslav newspapers were asked to choose the mascot for the 1984 Winter Olympics from a list of six finalists. The winner was Vucko, the little wolf, designed by Joze Trebec. The other finalists were a chipmunk, a lamb, a mountain goat, a porcupine, and a snowball.

Sam the Eagle was designed by C. Robert Moore of Walt Disney Productions. The bird was chosen because the bald eagle is the national symbol of the United States.

The first male and female pair of mascots were Hidi and Howdy, brother and sister polar bears designed by Sheila Scott of Great Scott Productions. The names were chosen from nearly 7,000 entries in a contest sponsored by the Calgary Zoo.

The Seoul Games had dual mascots, Hodori and Hosuni, but Hodori was by far the most popular. The tiger was selected because it appears in many Korean legends. Kim Hyun designed the mascots. The name was chosen from a list of 2,295 submitted by the public.

A mountain goat named Chamois was originally going to be the mascot of the Albertville Games, but no one really liked it, so Philippe Mairesse was called in to design something else. He came up with Magique, a snow imp who looks more like a gnome.

Cobi, designed by cartoonist Javier Mariscal, was supposed to be a dog, but many people weren't sure and the mascot seemed to be a flop. But then he began to catch on and became very popular by the end of the Games and afterward.

The first humanoid mascots were Haakon and Kristin, doll-children from Norwegian folklore. An interesting twist was that several pairs of real-life portrayed them to publicize the 1994 Winter Olympics before and during the Games.

Izzy was probably the least successful mascot of all. No one knew exactly what he (or she or it) was supposed to be. Originally, he was called Whatizit or Whatizhee, and Izzy was simply a shortening of those names. Izzy was also someting of a shape shifter. As time went on, he grew a nose, gained weight and muscle, and developed stars in his eyes.

As with Albertville in 1992, the original mascot was fired. It was a weasel named Snowple, who was generally disliked and was therefore replaced by four snow owls, Sukki, Nokki, Lekki, and Tsukki. They weren't much more popular at first, but gained popularity as the Games went on.

For the Sydney Olympics, Matthew Hatton designed three Australian animals with multiple layers of meaning. Olly, a kookaburra, is named for the Olympics and represents universal generosity; Syd, a platypus, is named for Sydney and represents the energy of Australia and the Australians; Millie, an echidna, is named for the millennium and is an information whiz.

The three animals symbolizing the 2002 Winter Olympics were chosen from Native American folklore to represent the three elements of the Olympic motto: The snowshoe hare is faster (Citius); the coyote is higher (Altius) because he once climbed a mountaintop and stole fire to warm the earth; the black bear is stronger (Fortius).

Athena and Phevos are two doll-like children, brother and sister, whose design is based on an ancient Greek terra cotta doll dating to the 7th century BC. Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom, the namesake and protectress of Athens, while Phevos is the god of light and music.

Neve is a snowball, Gliz an ice cube. They were created by a Portuguese artist, Pedro Albuquerque, who won an international competition conducted by the Turin Organising Committee.

The five names form the Chinese phrase "Beijing huan ying ni", which means "Beijing welcomes you". Each representing an Olympic ring and Feng Shui element.

The mascots for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games were introduced on November 27, 2007.Inspired by traditional First Nations creatures, the mascots include:
Miga - A mythical sea bear, part orca and part kermode bear.
Quatchi - A sasquatch, who wears boots and blue earmuffs.
Sumi - An animal guardian spirit who wears the hat of the orca whale, flies with the wings of the mighty Thunderbird and runs on the strong furry legs of the black bear.
Mukmuk - A Vancouver Island marmot.

Red male lion(Lyo), Blue female merlion(Merly).The two characters are an allusion to the "Lion City" label of Singapore, and the Merly, a national symbol of Singapore, respectively.

Named after the village of Much Wenlock in Shropshire - which hosted a precursor to the modern Olympic Games in the 19th century.

YOGGL represents the character of the host city of these games

On 26 February, at 11.20 pm (GMT+3) the final results of the public vote during the live television show "Talismaniya Sochi 2014 - The Final" were announced on Channel One. The election council made the decision that the top-three characters with maximum number of votes would all become the Olympic Winter Games mascots:
1.The Polar Bear (by Oleg Serdechniy, Sochi),
2.The Hare (by Silviya Petrova, New Buyanovo village of Yankovsky region, Chuvash republic),
3.The Leopard (by Vadim Pak, Nakhodka).