Vancouver 2010: Man, do those mascots rock!

Since Vancouver 2010 is just around the corner, I thought I’d babble a bit about the mascots behind these upcoming Canadian Olympic winter games. Through the years, there have been some pretty cool and interesting mascots to support the games – some good, some not so good. When they are good, people just go gaga over them. In fact, I was in Beijing at the end of 2007 and people (myself included) were going absolutely wild over Jing Jing and the gang. Almost every Olympic souvenir that was sold had the animals on them.

So what happened after the cutie Chinese crew left? Quatchi stepped in. And boy, is he the best mascot of any Olympic games EVER. He wears earmuffs and has a tattoo on his bicep!!!

I love how the Canadian games took on a quirky and sweet spin on their mascots. Sumi and Miga are great too, but Quatchi just stole my heart. The characters are reminiscent of a modern day Miffy, aren’t they?

If you’re curious to see some of the other mascots in past years (and trust me, they don’t hold a candle to our Canucks), here’s a good laugh. All images courtesy of ctv.ca:

Sydney 2000: 2 out of 5 stars (is it me or do they look extra naked?)

Torino 2006: 1 out of 5 stars (was this illustrator aged 10?!)

Barcelona 1992: 3 out of 5 (Cobi might be simple, but I guess he's got a bit of character)

Albertville 1992: 1.5 out of 5 (he is "half-man, half-star"... who comes up with these??)

Nagano 1998: 2.5 out of 5 (this must be from the same artist that did Torino, except he was 6 years younger at that time. They are pretty charming, though)

Beijing 2008: 4 out of 5 (finally, mascots I want to have on my paraphernalia!)

Now don’t even get me started on London 2012 logo… or as I’d like to call, the £400,000 monstrosity that makes no sense. But that’s another post altogether.

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If you like the Vancouver 2010 mascots, check out these fun links:

Which mascot are you like?
Play one-on-one hockey with the mascots
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