Ranking the weirdest Olympics mascots, including the really weird 2024 Paris edition

[Editor’s note: this post is from 2022, but with the 2024 Olympics starting, it’s a good time to revisit it!]

It feels like every time we’ve seen a mascot revealed for an upcoming Olympics Games, it’s always a bizarre one.

Also, why do we need Olympics mascots in the first place? Maybe that’s for another post.

We just saw the mascots revealed for Paris, and they’re getting ripped all over the internet: They’re supposed to be red hats, specifically Phrygian caps that were associated with the French Revolution.

But they have giant eyes and big smiles and … it’s all kind of creepy.

So where should the caps rank among the weirdest Olympic mascots? Let’s run down some of the most bizarre:

8

2016 Rio Games: Vinicius

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Apparently a mishmash of different Brazilian animals. Not the weirdest, but weird enough.

7

2008 Beijing Games: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, Nini

BEIJING, CHINA – MARCH 04: Shuey Rhon Rhon, Mascot of the Beijing 2022 performs during the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics at the Beijing National Stadium on March 04, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

6

2004 Athens Games: Phevos and Athena

Photo by Ginger Wall, USA TODAY

Per Olympics.com:

Phevos and Athena are brother and sister. They owe their strange shape to a typical terracotta doll in the shape of a bell from the 7th century BC, the “daidala”. They symbolise the pleasure of playing and the values of Olympism. The choice of a brother and sister was deliberate: they embody the unity of men and women, through equality and brotherhood. Phevos wears a blue tunic to recall the sea and the colour of the Games emblem, while Athena is in orange to evoke the sun and the Paralympic emblem.

That explains the look, but they’re still bizarre.

5

2020 Tokyo Games: Miraitowa and Someity

This picture shows Miraitowa (L) and Someity (R), mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, at the office of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo on April 30, 2021. (Photo by Philip FONG / AFP) (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images) 

A bit of nightmare fuel.

4

2024 Paris Games: The Phryges

A TV presenter poses with the mascots ‘Phryge’ of Paris 2024 Olympic Games inside an official store in Paris on July 25, 2024, on the eve of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images) 

I’ve seen weirder, as you’ll see.

3

1996 Atlanta Games: Izzy

Olympic mascots peaked in 1996 with Izzy pic.twitter.com/X4TwlcKGb5

— Shane P. Hallam (@ShanePHallam) July 22, 2024

Again, from Olympics.com: “A product of information technology, Izzy is blue and wears training shoes.”

What?

2

2006 Torino Games: Neve and Gliz

Photo by Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

A snowball and ice cube with bodies. Like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, except not.

1

2012 London Games: Wenlock

Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

GAHHHHHHHHH!