Day -17: Mascot Madness (1984-1992)

"Espionage was a big concern at the time."

Another day, another ragtag group of Olympic mascots to let into your heart forever!

One thing to keep an eye out for—during this time period, the Olympics and Paralympics seemed to take on a more unified identity, with both Games being held in the same host city starting with Seoul 1988. After this point, Paralympic mascots started being more integrated with their Olympic counterparts, although some had more artistic/conceptual cohesion than others.

Today, Olympic and Paralympic mascots are basically a package deal, but from like 1988-2000 (and weirdly also in 2008?), the Olympic mascots were very clearly the main event, with the Paralympics mascots being significantly lower-profile. With that in mind, I want to include the Paralympics mascots in all their glory here, but generally I haven’t been able to find many photos or anecdotes about them in this period. Alas!

Anyway, onward to me having a one-sided feud with an eagle wearing a hat!

Sarajevo, Winter 1984: Vučko

The Yugoslavian populace had the opportunity to vote on their preferred Olympic mascot, and Vučko impressively received more votes than all five of his opponents—a snowball, a mountain goat, a weasel, a lamb, and a hedgehog—combined. Apparently a guy dressed as Vučko would wolfishly howl “Sarajevoooo!” at Olympic events, which seems very fun. Wikipedia claims that Vučko’s charming vibes made Balkan people feel more favorably toward wolves as a general type of animal but they have no citation for this.

Los Angeles, Summer 1984: Sam

Please don’t tell the FBI I said this, but I do not enjoy Sam. I believe that he is, as youth on the internet might say, “allergic to serving.” I see no charm, no character, no artistry—just a garish, obvious bird.

Sam’s unpleasant design was created by an artist from Walt Disney Studios, who had tried hard to come up with a mascot character that reflected California or L.A. with any degree of specificity before giving up and making it a stupid eagle. This mascot isn’t even among the top two most charming Disney-affiliated eagle characters named Sam: he trails behind Sam the Eagle from The Muppets, as well as the avian host of the former Disneyland attraction America Sings. Still, even I can admit that it’s very (uncharacteristically) cool that Sam had his own 51-episode anime series in which he apparently solved mysteries using his magical hat, all while speaking Japanese.

Calgary, Winter 1988: Hidy and Howdy

Up until writing this sentence, I considered Hidy and Howdy to be the OG Olympic mascot power couple, but am just now learning they are in fact brother and sister—sorry guys! #siblingsordating

Anyway, apparently during the Games there were more than a dozen pairs of Hidys and Howdys running around, all of which had students from a local high school inside the mascot suits. A few years ago, a Canadian senior living home published recollections from a 91-year-old resident named Phyllis, who had served as a handler for Hidy and Howdy during and leading up to the Calgary Games. She apparently somewhat spontaneously signed up to volunteer for the Olympics and ended up being chosen to drive H&H to public appearances and “chaperone” them at appearances. Phyllis shared some pretty amazing tidbits:

• “We didn’t know where we were going ahead of time. The locations were kept a secret. Even headquarters was secret. They were afraid that someone would get hold of a costume – espionage was a big concern at the time….It was still the Cold War, and we were dealing with mayors, politicians, and celebrities all the time…so it could be mayhem if the wrong person got hold of the costumes. We had to always have eyes on the costumes.”

• “[Hidy and Howdy] did not speak. Which is something for a 17 or 18 year old! Once they put the head on, it was all nodding or shaking the head. Because bears…don’t… talk….[A reporter] said, ‘This is the list of questions I’m going to ask them.’ And I said, ‘Well you realise they won’t answer you?  They’ll just nod or shake their head.’ Well, the poor man’s whole program was shot!”

Seoul, Summer 1988: Hodori and Gomdoori

Hodori is a friendly tiger rocking the Korean sangmo hat, whose ribbon takes the shape of an S (S for Seoul!!) in his official portrait. I haven’t been able to get a lot of info about Hodori, other than the fact that he beat out a rabbit, a squirrel, and a pair of mandarin ducks in a national competition to select the Olympic mascot. His Paralympic counterparts are Gomdoori, two bears with their legs tied together.

Albertville, Winter 1992: Magique and Alpy

What is Magique, exactly? The Olympics website identifies him as a “star-shaped imp” who “symbolised dreams and imagination.” Apparently the 1992 mascot was originally going to be a mountain goat, which honestly would’ve been cool too, but Magique is an undeniable upgrade. Magique’s Paralympic counterpart is Alpy, an anthropomorphized representation of the Grande Motte mountain on a mono-ski.

The Olympics people interviewed Magique’s designer Philippe Mairesse a couple of years ago and he seemed a bit ambivalent about how Magique turned out: “Maybe, the idea of not creating a mascot that was a teddy bear resulted in something that wasn’t as emotional. I find Magique emotional, very funny, but it was maybe more something graphic, more suited to a cartoon than a mascot.”

When asked what makes a good mascot, Mairesse replied: “There’s something extra. The thing that makes you say that you couldn’t have imagined it before it existed but now that it’s here it’s obvious to you.” To me, personally, that is Magique 😭🧊⭐