Diznews.com

The first Olympic mascot appeared at the 1972 Munich games, and since then they have become a key component of the Olympic image. These mascots visually represent the vitality of the games and also the individuality of the hosting nation, and also remind everyone of the fun, festive background to the games, amidst all the serious competitiveness.

Whatever shape the Olympic mascots have taken they usually aim to convey the theme of that particular games, and translate to the world some of the diverse geography, history and culture of the host country and also the host city. The first mascot in 1972 was called ‘Waldi the dachshund’ and represented the key attributes that embody the Olympic athlete, resistance, tenacity and agility. He was shown dressed in bright colors, to express the joy of this great Olympic event.

This years 2008 Beijing Games have 5 mascots, the Fuwa, drawing their inspiration from the Five Olympic Rings. They are intended to carry a message of good wishes and good luck from China to the rest of the world, and the first four take their images from China’s most popular and lucky animals, Beibei the fish, Jingjing the panda, Yingying the Tibetan antelope, and Nini the swallow. The fifth mascot is meant to represent the Olympic Flame and is called Huanhuan. The clever part is that when all the first sections of the names are read together they say “Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni” which means “Welcome to Beijing”. These mascots also show performance in live olympics before and after few events. You must have seen them doing gymnastic performance before athletic events, dressed with this same mascots.

The Fuwa mascots also aim to embody the landscape and spirit of the vast nation of China, and each mascot represents the five main elements of nature, sea, forest, earth, sky and fire. Symbols and signs are traditionally used in China to spread good luck, and the mascots are utilized in this way also. Fish and water symbols carry the message of prosperity; the panda represents happiness and harmony in nature, the antelope is swift and can cover long distances and so represents the vastness of China and the swallow represents the spread of good luck as it flies across the world. Also the word swallow is “yan” in Chinese, and Yanying was the ancient name for Beijing. Huanhuan is the main mascot and embraces the vitality and undying passion of the Olympic Spirit, and also the warmth of the blessing wished by the people of China to the rest of the world.

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