Features

Worst Olympic mascots

Author: Lynda Collins
Date: 30/05/2010
Olympic Games betting

The jury is still out on the mascot for the London 2012 Olympics which was unveiled last week.

But whatever the public decides to think of Wenlock, it has some way to go before it challenges the following Olympic mascots from games past.

They are all memorable but for precisely the wrong reason.

Izzy, Atlanta 1996

By general consensus the mascot for the 1996 games in Atlanta is the worst in living memory.

Izzy was short for 'Whatizit' and that was the question on most people's lips after they caught sight of the tear-shaped blue blob of blue fuzz in sneakers with a lightning bolt flashing down the side.

In many ways, Izzy was symptomatic of a games which failed to live up to expectations.

Organisers said it has been designed by computer which was probably a polite way of sparing some advertising executives blushes.

Phevos and Athena, Athens 2004

Phevos and Athena were supposed to represent the link between Greek history and the modern Olympic Games when they were launched in the build-up to the iconic games.

However, the unfortunately shaped characters drew much mirth from both the Greek public and the wider world.

Even the organisers of the Beijing Games four years later poked fun at the siblings after citing "their whacking feet, longish necks and puny heads" on their official website.

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Waldi, Munich 1972

Quite what a multi-coloured dachshund had in common with the Olympic Games is a mystery to everyone outside of the Munich organising committee almost 30 years ago.

Waldi was the first ever official Olympic mascot and over two million items baring the bizarre canine were sold around the world.

Such was his influence that the shape of the marathon course at the games roughly reflected his outline with the Olympic Stadium featuring, hilariously, towards the rear end.

Hodori, Seoul, 1988

Hodori welcomed spectators to the 1998 games in South Korea will a familiar friendly face.

Athletes and visitors from the west noted its uncanny likeness to Tony the Tiger of Frosties fame.

The character's jaunty black hat was the icing on the cake - or the sugar on the flake as the case may be.

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