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John Millen

Only 445 days to go

A.

Meet the mascots

Everyone loves and remembers a good mascot. Sports teams, top companies and lots of other organisations know that a cute mascot promotes their image and makes people notice them. The first Olympic mascot, a cartoon version of a skier, appeared at the 1968 Winter Olympics, and the idea quickly caught on. The first official mascot of the Summer Olympics was a red jaguar and made its appearance at the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City. But it wasn't given a name. The Olympic mascot really became popular with the appearance of Misha, a bear cub, at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Misha was cute and cuddly and he set the standard for the Olympic mascots that were to follow him.

1. What is a mascot?

a. a person, animal or object that is supposed to bring good luck

b. a symbol that represents something

2. What does the phrase 'to catch on' mean?

a. to disappear quickly

b. to become popular quickly

3. What does the phrase 'to set the standard' mean?

a. to show a level of quality that others should try and reach

b. to copy what someone else has done

B.

Memorable mascots

1. Hi there. I'm Sam the Eagle and I was the mascot for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. I was chosen to represent the Games because I'm a bald eagle and a bald eagle is the symbol of the United States. I'm wearing red, white and blue which are the colours of my country's flag. I was designed by Robert Moore from the Walt Disney Company.

2. Hello! We are a couple of fun-loving tiger cubs and our names are Hodori and Hosuni. Pleased to meet you. We were the mascots of the Seoul Olympics. Tigers appear in many of our country's stories and legends so we were happy to represent South Korea at the 1988 Games.

3. Hola! I'm Cobi and I usually spend my days in the mountains looking after sheep

but in 1992 I was asked to be the mascot of the Barcelona Olympics. I was surprised and honoured to represent my country at such an important event. I made lots of new friends and I still get fan letters from all over the world.

4. Hi. Do you like my picture? Are you asking 'What is it'' That's what I am. I'm Izzy, the Whatizit and I was the mascot at Atlanta in 1996. I'm going to let you in on a secret. I wasn't a very popular mascot and a lot of people didn't like me. But that's life! You win some and you lose some.

5. G'day, mate! My name's Syd and these are my good mates Olly and Millie. Did you see us at the Sydney Olympics in 2000? I'm a platypus and I represent the environment. You must have already guessed that my name is short for Sydney. Olly here is a kookaburra bird and his name is short for Olympics. Clever, eh? Millie is an echidna and she was named after the Millennium. You don't know what an echidna is? Shame on you! Millie is an Aussie mammal covered in spikes. She has a long nose and loves to eat ants.

6. How are you? I am Athena and this is my brother Phevos. We are Greek dolls and we represented our country at the 2004 Athens Olympics. I was named after the Greek goddess of wisdom and Phevos was called after the god of light and music.

Who am I? (Name the mascot)

1. Who was the first named mascot to represent the Olympics?

2. Whose body is covered in protective spikes?

3. Who represented the United States in the 1984 Games?

4. Who represented the United States in the 1996 Games?

5. Who is a dog?

6. Who are the two birds in our Memorable Mascots?

7. Who are the two tiger cubs who represented the 1988 Seoul Games?

8. Who turned out to be the least popular mascot so far?

9. Who are the only mascots who aren't an animal or a bird?

Answers:A. 1a, 2b, 3a; B. 1. Misha 2. Millie 3. Sam the Eagle 4. Izzy 5. Cobi 6. Sam the Eagle and Olly 7. Hoduri and Hosuni 8. Izzy 9. Phevos and Athena



The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games