Day -18: Mascot Malarkey (1976-1980)

Raccoon mortality comes for us all.

After Waldi hit the scene in 1972, mascots have been a staple of the Olympic Games, to the point that prospective host cities probably see “having to come up with a creepy little guy and pretend it represents our national character” as one of 7000 compelling reasons not to bother trying to host the Olympics. On we go!!!

Innsbruck, Winter 1976: Schneemann

Schneemann (German for “snowman”) was the first official Winter Olympic mascot. He wears a red Tyrolean hat in honor of his alpine heritage, and…honestly, there isn’t much else to say about Schneemann. We thank him for his time!

Montreal, Summer 1976: Amik

Amik is a beaver, which makes sense when you know that amik is the Algonquin word for beaver. Amik seems to have a pretty limited internet presence, but you should know that their Wikipedia page features a rainbow-ribbon-ed version of Amik, which makes them look like they’re serving as the grand marshal of Montréal Pride. Nous t'aimons, Amik!!

Lake Placid, Winter 1980: Roni

Roni strikes me as a complicated figure because sometimes he looks like a real cutie pie and sometimes he comes across as a monster from hell (which honestly kind of echoes the endearing-yet-criminal duality of raccoonkind, when you think about it). Anyway, unsettlingly, the Games were originally going to have a living raccoon named Rocky as their mascot, but he died before the Olympics rolled around, so we got Roni instead.

Moscow, Summer 1980: Misha

Misha (full name: Mikhail Potapych Toptygin) was a huge popular success and set a high bar for mascots for decades to come. At the Closing Ceremony, performers in the stands pulled off a massive card stunt depicting a gigantic Misha shedding a single tear, presumably due to the bittersweet occasion of the Games coming to an end; at the same event, an enormous inflatable Misha smilingly ascended into the cosmos pulled by a bevy of balloons. I cannot force you to watch video of these things happening, but I would if I could because they’re really remarkable and I kind of get why they moved so many spectators to tears!

Misha was designed by Russian children’s book illustrator Viktor Chizhikov, who came up with the bear’s Olympics-themed weightlifter’s belt in a dream. Chizhikov was pissed off with the IOC and Russian Olympic Committee basically until his death, because he scarcely saw a cent from Misha’s massive commercial success, which included tons of merch as well as both Russian and Japanese TV cartoons. We’ll come back to this later!

Special Estonian Bonus Round: Tallinn, Summer 1980: Vigri

As if one super-successful mascot wasn’t enough, the Moscow Olympics hit us with a second, not-at-all-culturally-impactful cutie: Vigri, the seal mascot specifically for the 1980 Games’ sailing events, which took place in Soviet Tallinn about a thousand kilometers away. That’s basically all I can tell you about Vigri! Love his hat.