Breaking news on the Olympic mascot front. The official website of the 2014 Winter Games (English link here) has announced a short list of mascot candidates! Straight from the bear's mouth:
Finding pictures of the images is relatively difficult in English but I was able to track down a collage of potential mascots created by the Voice of Russia. Sochi residents had first crack at unofficially choosing the Olympic mascot because it was included on the March, 2008 presidential ballot. At that time, the dolphin won. While it is unclear which character is the front-runner, it is clear that Russians have little tolerance for 'Zoich,' a frog with spinning Olympic rings for eyeballs. ('Zoich' comes from a relatively clever reading of the '2014' in the official Sochi Olympic logo.)The expert jury, consisting of prominent cultural, educational, sports, business and political figures, is chaired by Konstantin Ernst, CEO of Channel One Russia. After a review the 24,000 designs submitted during the contest, the jury shortlisted the top 10 Olympic and top 3 Paralympic mascot ideas from which the winners will be chosen in February 2011. The jury has decided that both animals - such as bears, leopards, dolphins, bullfinches, rabbits, and abstract characters - such as snowballs, snowflakes, traditional Russian nested dolls (Matreshkas) - can continue the race
Olympic mascots have been around since the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France and, by and large, have a history of being either terrifying or confusing (Izzy, anyone?). Luckily, you can take a tour of all the Olympic mascots since the 1968 Games and see for yourself (link is in Russian, but is mostly just photos).
Of course, the above mascot, 'Misha,' was the official mascot of the U.S.-boycotted 1980 Summer Games held in Moscow.
It was interesting to hear that the Russians had appointed an 'expert jury' to sift through submissions; whether or not that's a good thing depends on your point of view.
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