Each Paralympic Games have a mascot, often an animal native to the area or occasionally human figures representing the cultural heritage. Nowadays, most of the merchandise aimed at young people focuses on the mascots, rather than the Paralympic flag or organization logos.
Noggi and Joggi, the mascots of the 1980 Summer Paralympics in Arnhem, The Netherlands are possibly the first Paralympic mascots. But since the Gomdoori in the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul, South Korea, the Paralympic mascots have been associated with their Olympic counterparts.
Games | City | Name | Type | Designer | Significance | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1980 Summer Paralympics | Arnhem | Noggi and Joggi | a pair of red squirrels | Necky Oprinsen | Possibly the first Paralympic mascots when those Games were still called the World Disabled Games. | |
1984 Summer Paralympics | New York/Stoke Mandeville | Dan D. Lion | a lion who wore running shoes and a jogging outfit. | Maryanne McGrath Higgins | The name was chosen following a vote by students at a school for students with severe physical impairments. [1] | |
1988 Summer Paralympics | Seoul | Gomdoori | two Asian black bears | Lee Yun Soo | The Gomdoori (Korean for "teddy bears") were the Paralympic mascots for Seoul 1988. The bears are tied together to symbolize cooperation. [2] | |
1992 Winter Paralympics | Albertville | Alpy | a mountain on a mono-ski | Vincent Thiebaut | Represented the summit of the Grande Motte mountain in Tignes. Colors were white, green and blue, to represent nature and the lake. | |
1992 Summer Paralympics | Barcelona | Petra | a stylized armless girl | Javier Mariscal | Depicted as an honest, diplomatic, energetic, impatient and brave girl. As the first Paralympic mascot with disability, the design was based as friend of Mariscal, the Chilean-German artist Lorenza Böttner, like her, she has no arms, which symbolizes that she does not possess any weapons, and represents peace and harmony. | |
1994 Winter Paralympics | Lillehammer | Sondre | troll, with an amputation | Tor Lindrupsen and Janne Solem | The name was chosen in a competition and derives from the great skiing pioneer Sondre Nordheim. | |
1996 Summer Paralympics | Atlanta | Blaze | a colourful phoenix | Trevor Irvin | The phoenix is the symbol of the city of Atlanta. | |
1998 Winter Paralympics | Nagano | Parabbit | a white rabbit (1 red & 1 green ear) [3] | A competition was held among students to find a name for the 1998 Winter Paralympic mascot, and the designation "Parabbit" was chosen from among 3,408 different entries. | ||
2000 Summer Paralympics | Sydney | Lizzie | frill-necked lizard | Matthew Hattan and Jozef Szekeres | Her frill was shaped like the combined map of Australia and Tasmania | |
2002 Winter Paralympics | Salt Lake City | Otto | otter | Steve Small, Landor Associates and Publicis | The otter was chosen because of its quickness and liveliness. [4] | |
2004 Summer Paralympics | Athens | Proteas | colourfully-striped seahorse | Spyros Gogos | Named after the mythologic sea-god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, Proteus. From the myth also comes their name, as a feature of Proteus comes the adjective protean, with the general meaning of "versatile", "mutable", "capable of assuming many forms". "Protean" has positive connotations of flexibility, versatility and adaptability. | |
2006 Winter Paralympics | Turin | Aster | humanized snowflake | Pedro Albuquerque | Aster the snowflake represents the uniqueness of each participating athlete. [5] | |
2008 Summer Paralympics | Beijing | Fu Niu Lele | multi-coloured cow | Wu GuanYing | Represents a harmonious co-existence between mankind and nature, it represents athletes with a disability striving to make progress, and it represents the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Summer Games' concept of "Transcendence, Equality and Integration." | |
2010 Winter Paralympics | Vancouver | Sumi | a hybrid and mythical creature | Meomi Design (a group of Vicki Wong and Michael Murphy) | With wings of a Thunderbird, legs of an American black bear, and a hat of a killer whale in an artistic style of Haida people, he pays homage to Canadian legends. | |
Mukmuk | Vancouver Island marmot | Not an official mascot, but the designated "sidekick". | ||||
2012 Summer Paralympics | London | Mandeville [6] | one eyed, drop of steel, painted blue by the rainbow | Iris [7] | Named after the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire. | |
2014 Winter Paralympics | Sochi | Ray of Light and Snowflake | a ray of light and a snowflake | Natalia Balashova and Anna Zhilinsky | Ray of Light came from a different planet that was perpetually hot, while Snowflake hailed from a planet that was perpetually cold. | |
2016 Summer Paralympics | Rio de Janeiro | Tom | An hybrid plant made of all Brazilian plants | Luciana Eguti and Paulo Muppet [8] | Inspired by the diversity of the Brazilian flora. Named after the local musician Tom Jobim decided by popular vote. | |
2018 Winter Paralympics | Pyeongchang | Bandabi | Asiatic black bear | MASS C&G | The chosen of the bear is relative to the mascots of the 1988 Summer Paralympics. And the Bear was also symbolic of strongness and courage. Its name is also formed from two Korean words: bandal (반달) and bi (비), meaning "half-moon" to refer to the white crescent on an Asiatic black bear's chest and the latter connoting commemoration to celebrate the games. | |
2020 Summer Paralympics | Tokyo | Someity | A Robot creature with pink chequered patterns from official emblem and cherry blossom flowers | Ryo Taniguchi [9] | The Paralympic mascot was chosen from several designs submitted by schoolchildren and illustrators throughout Japan. It is still popular after the games and still appears in events today. [10] | |
2022 Winter Paralympics | Beijing | Shuey Rhon Rhon | A Chinese lantern child | Jiang Yufan | Designed with Chinese New Year lanterns as the prototype.As the games were held during the Chinese New Year,the Lanterns represent harvest, celebration, warmth and light. The wishful shape at the top symbolizes auspicious happiness; the continuous pattern of the dove of peace and the Temple of Heaven symbolizes the peaceful friendship and highlights the characteristics of the place where the place is held; the decorative pattern incorporates the traditional Chinese paper-cut art; the snow on the face represents the meaning of "a fall of seasonable snow gives promise of a fruitful year". It also reflects the anthropomorphic design and highlights the mascot's cuteness. | |
2024 Summer Paralympics | Paris | The Paralympic Phryge [11] | Phrygian Cap | Gilles Deleris | An anthropomorphic Phrygian Cap based on the one Marianne wore at the time of the French Revolution. Also the first Paralympic mascot since the 1994 Winter Paralympics with an obvious disability with a prosthetic right leg. Revealed on 14 November 2022 | |
2026 Winter Paralympics | Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo | Milo [12] | Ermine with an amputation | Students of the Istituto Comprensivo of Taverna in Calabria | Derived from Milan, one of the two host cities. Born without a back right paw, he uses his tail to overcome obstacles. | |
2028 Summer Paralympics | Los Angeles | Will be unveiled in late 2025 or early 2026 | TBA | TBA | ||
2030 Winter Paralympics | French Alps | Will be unveiled in late 2028 | TBA | TBA | ||
2032 Summer Paralympics | Brisbane | Will be unveiled in late 2030 | TBA | TBA | ||
2034 Winter Paralympics | Salt Lake City-Utah | Will be unveiled in late 2032 | TBA | TBA | ||
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, have been held shortly after the corresponding Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
The 1988 Summer Paralympics were the first Paralympics in 24 years to take place in the same city as the Olympic Games. They took place in Seoul, South Korea. This was the first time the term "Paralympic" was used officially.
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The 2016 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events in some sports beginning on 3 August. Rio de Janeiro was announced as the host city at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 October 2009.
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Each Olympic Games has its own Olympic emblem, which is a design integrating the Olympic rings with one or more distinctive elements. They are created and proposed by the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (OCOG) or the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of the host country. It is the responsibility of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to approve Olympic emblems for the Olympic games. The Olympic emblems are used in promotional materials, by sponsors of the Olympics, and on the uniforms of every Olympic competitor. All emblems are the property of the IOC.
The Paralympic symbols are the icons, flags, and symbols used by the International Paralympic Committee to promote the Paralympic Games.
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The 2018 Winter Paralympics, the 12th Paralympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, were an international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), that was held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from 9 to 18 March 2018. They were the second Paralympics to be held in South Korea, following the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul.
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The 2026 Winter Paralympics, officially the XIV Paralympic Winter Games and commonly known as Milano Cortina 2026, is an international winter multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities, scheduled to take place from 6 to 15 March 2026 in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The election was held on 24 June 2019 at the 134th IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland, home of the IOC headquarters. Milan-Cortina were elected as hosts, defeating Stockholm-Åre.
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