2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games mascots

The mascots for the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2014 Winter Paralympics were revealed on February 26, 2011.[1] A shortlist of ten Olympic and three Paralympic designs had been shown to the public on February 7, 2011.[2]

Leopard, Hare and Polar bear
Леопард, Зайка, Белый Мишка (in Russian)
Mascots of the 2014 Winter Olympics (Sochi)
CreatorSilvia Petrova, Vadim Pak and Oleg Serdechny
SignificanceA leopard, a hare and a polar bear
Snowflake and Ray of Light
Снежинка, Лучик (in Russian)
Mascots of the 2014 Winter Paralympics (Sochi)
CreatorNatalia Balashova and Anna Zhilinsky
SignificanceA snowflake and a ray of light
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History

Election

Along with the 2008 Russian presidential election, on 2 March 2008 there was an unofficial election held in Sochi to elect the mascot for the 2014 Winter Olympics. 270,000 voters along with their ballots received a coupon with four mascot candidates: Ded Moroz, a snowflake, a polar bear and a dolphin. According to a representative of Sochi city administration, the majority of Sochians voted for the dolphin.[3] However, representatives of the Sochi Organizing Committee, which officially selects a logo and a mascot, commented that while respecting the opinion of Sochians, such a procedure is usually held later. They also pointed out, that the final version of the mascot should be a consensus of opinions of all citizens of the country and the result of work by professional designers and market analysts.[4]

Official vote

A nationwide design contest was held in Russia, from September 1 to December 5, 2010.[5] 24,000 designs were sent in for the contest.[2]

A short list of designs were announced in December 2010, after a jury had reviewed thousands of designs.[2] It was now down to eleven design ideas for the Olympic Games, and two design ideas for the Paralympic Games. The shortlisted designs were presented to the public on February 7, 2011. A live national TV broadcast, on Russia's Channel One,[6] included a nationwide text message voting, where Russians voted for their favorite mascot.[2]

Controversy

Despite the success of the mascot selection process, some accusations have been brought against the mascots. The possibility of telephone vote rigging was brought up when the mascot that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had said was his favorite.[9][10] The bear was also seen by politician Sergey Mironov as resembling the mascot of the United Russia political party, the current ruling party, leading to accusations of political propaganda.[11]

Viktor Chizhikov, the designer of the 1980 Moscow Games mascot Misha, accused the designer of the polar bear mascot (named Bely Mishka) for the 2014 Sochi Olympics of plagiarism. Chizhikov noted that the Bely's facial features were all taken from Misha, saying "they just pumped him up and made him fatter". Chizhikov also complained that Bely and the other two mascots (the Hare and Leopard) was lacking personality. As a result of these issues, as well as being denied the copyright to Misha, Chizhikov declined to help when asked by the organizers of the 2014 Winter Olympics closing ceremony.[12]

Zoich (or ZOIЧ) was a proposed mascot for the XXII Winter Olympics, which took first place in the official online poll to select a mascot for the 2014 Sochi games. Despite being a popular Internet character, the committee chose not to introduce it to the final round of the voting. Upon introduction and until the end of the online voting, it was the most popular mascot from those submitted. It also took only about 40 minutes for Zoich to take the top spot.

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See also

References
  1. Russia unveils candidates for Sochi mascot, sports.espn.go.com, February 7, 2011
  2. Promising Sochi 2014 Mascots Ideas Shortlisted, Official website of Sochi 2014, December 21, 2010
  3. Sochi People Want a Dolphin to Become the Mascot of the Games Archived 2008-03-15 at the Wayback Machine RIA Novosti (in Russian)
  4. 2014 Winter Olympics Mascot Should Appear Not Earlier Than 2011 RIA Novosti (in Russian)
  5. Competition launched for Sochi 2014 mascot, rbth.ru, September 3, 2010
  6. Russian public to vote for Sochi 2014 mascot, insidethegames.biz, February 7, 2011
  7. Father Frost removed from competition for Sochi Olympic Games mascot, itar-tass.com, February 26, 2011
  8. Official mascot site
  9. "Russian president unhappy with Sochi mascot vote - USATODAY.com". USATODAY.COM. Retrieved 2016-12-23.
  10. "Snow leopard heads trio of Sochi 2014 mascots". Reuters. 2017-02-27. Retrieved 2016-12-23.
  11. "Sochi 2014 mascot gets icy copyright reception". Reuters. 2017-02-28. Retrieved 2016-12-23.
  12. Mackay, Duncan. (1 March 2011) Misha the Bear creator claims Sochi 2014 polar bear has been stolen from him. Insidethegames.biz. Retrieved on 2016-07-02.
Preceded by
Wenlock		 Olympic mascot
Bely Mishka (Polar Bear), Leopard, and Zaika the Doe Hare
Sochi 2014		 Succeeded by
Vinicius
Preceded by
Mandeville		 Paralympic mascot
Ray of Light (Fire Boy), Snowflake (Snow Girl)
Sochi 2014		 Succeeded by
Tom
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