PET OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES

The mascots of the Olympic Games or Olympic Pets are one of the main symbols of each of the Olympic events. Pets are usually animals or anthropomorphic figures representing the area of realization of the Games or the event itself.

Pets began to be used at the Olympic Games from Grenoble 1968 (winter) and, at the Summer Games since Munich 1972.

Munich 1972. Waldi, a dachshund dog very representative of Bavaria. Represented the strength, toughness and agility of athletes.

Montreal 1976. Amik, a beaver, an animal symbols of Canada. Its name comes from the Algonquin language.

Moscow 1980. Misha, a bear, designed by children's book illustrator Victor Chizikov. He was without doubt one of the most popular pets in history.

Los Angeles 1984. Sam, a bald eagle, national symbol of the United States. It was designed by Robert Moore and Disney.

Seoul 1988. Hodori, a tiger, an animal common in Korean traditional stories and legends. For the Paralympic Games was your female counterpart, Hosuni.

Barcelona 1992. Cobi, a humanized dog. Designed by Javier Mariscal, has been one of the most popular pets.

Atlanta 1996. Izzy was a mixture of various figures. His original name was Whatizit. Because of his strange figure, was not popular and quickly passed into oblivion.

Sydney 2000. To celebrate the Games were created three animals: Olly, a kookaburra, whose name came from Olympics, Sid was a platypus that the word came from Sydney, and Millie the echidna, whose name representava the new millennium.

Athens 2004. Athena and Phevos two children were inspired by two figures of ancient Greece. Their names came from the gods Athena, protector of the city, and Phoebus, god of the arts and sport.

Beijing 2008. Games were chosen for these five mascots: Beibei, blue fish, Jingjing, a panda, Huanhuan, torch red, Yingying, a Tibetan antelope, and Nini, a swallow green. His repeated two-syllable names refer to the pet names with which they often treat children in Chinese.

Londres 2012: these two figures represent the Olympic Games in London to reinfection. They are called Wenlock and Mandeville, supposedly these two dolls representing the last drops of steel left over from building the Olympic Stadium and say it is intended to bring a little children to Olympic sports.