April 4, 2002

4:16 PM

Meet the Athens Olympics mascots.I'm not sure when Olympics sites started adopting cartoony mascots, but I'm sure of this much: This pair is the worst I've ever seen. They're supposed to represent Greek gods? Please. They look like they were drawn in about five minutes.
posted by diddlegnome (36 comments total)

They look like Thalidomide babies.
posted by donkeyschlong at 4:25 PM on April 4, 2002

I was always a fan of the Olympic Mascot that Homer Simpson created: Springy!
posted by FreezBoy at 4:25 PM on April 4, 2002

Where does it say they are greek gods? Athena and Phevos are fairly common Greek names.

I agree they are horrible. Maybe the product of commitee-thinking?
posted by vacapinta at 4:26 PM on April 4, 2002

donkeyschlong, that is sick, sick, sick.

(and it made me laugh 'til my sides hurt)
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:27 PM on April 4, 2002

At least they look happy.
posted by jaden at 4:28 PM on April 4, 2002

The 2004 Olympics, sponsored by Gigantor^® Inc.

I can't put my finger on it, but something tells me the one in the orange is the female. Call me crazy.
posted by tomorama at 4:28 PM on April 4, 2002

Never mind.

(1 , 2)
posted by vacapinta at 4:31 PM on April 4, 2002

Where does it say they are greek gods?

You're right; I misspoke. They're named after Greek gods, not representations of them. According to the AP, Phevos is another name for Apollo.
posted by diddlegnome at 4:31 PM on April 4, 2002

They look like a cross between a slice of pizza and a science beaker. (Is that what they are called? I'm having a brain fart).
posted by Windigo at 4:39 PM on April 4, 2002

> something tells me the one in the orange is the female

The crosshairs over the boobs? That is very odd.
posted by sylloge at 4:50 PM on April 4, 2002

Olympic mascots started unofficially in 1968 for the Grenoble Winter Olympics with "Schuss" the skiing man and in 1972 for the Munich Summer Olympics with "Waldi" the Dachshund.

Probably the ugliest of an ugly lot was Atlanta's own indescribable "Izzy". Personally I liked best Barcelona's "Cobi" the surreal dog.
posted by Turtle at 5:09 PM on April 4, 2002

Once the Olympics are over I think these two could find careers as MS Office assistants.
posted by Salmonberry at 5:14 PM on April 4, 2002

I think the snow owls were more surreal than Cobi. Personally, I liked Vucko the Wolf - he's got attitude.
posted by vacapinta at 5:29 PM on April 4, 2002

That Barcelona mascot is actually pretty cool.
posted by donkeyschlong at 5:37 PM on April 4, 2002

donkeyschlong, you're a sick bastard - and you stole my comment!

Anyone for dancing bicycle seats?
posted by groundhog at 5:50 PM on April 4, 2002

I actually think I could grow to like Athena and Phevos. They're very European.
posted by kindall at 5:51 PM on April 4, 2002

Windigo: "Erlenmeyer flask"
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 6:13 PM on April 4, 2002

just thinking out loud here, but am i the only one who thinks they look like big penises with hands?

er... sorry.
posted by eatdonuts at 6:16 PM on April 4, 2002

DevilsAdvocate: You sure it's not just "Beaker"?
posted by yhbc at 6:18 PM on April 4, 2002

Phevos is more often Anglicized as Phoebus, as in "Phoebus Apollo."
posted by Allen Varney at 6:56 PM on April 4, 2002

you get better and easier marketing with blob-shaped mascots. Insteadof having them hold the product, they can be the prodcut! They already look like pizza, soda bottles and pan-racial non-offensive chew toys. Brilliant!
posted by jessamyn at 6:57 PM on April 4, 2002

i like them. better, warmer and much more human [hehe] than many of the slick, overly-produced disney-inspired olympic mascots of the past.

kudos to the decision-makers for contesting american imperialism [and the perspectives of literal minded people].
posted by elphTeq at 7:05 PM on April 4, 2002

I guess there aren't many grecians on the east coast, cos I haven't seen any and I sure as hell would have remembered.
posted by Settle at 7:08 PM on April 4, 2002

Those crazy Greeks and their crazy space-alien names...
posted by noisemartyr at 7:37 PM on April 4, 2002

Blecch! I'm all for abstract designs, but these are just ugly. What happened to mascot design lately? Instead of being merely abstract, it just looks like crappy artwork.

You'd think the country where the Olympics originated could come up with something a little more traditonal in its nature. I'm not thinking "Greek" in the design of the characters so much as I'm thinking "freaky malformed bodies."

ElphTeq: i like them. better, warmer and much more human [hehe] than many of the slick, overly-produced disney-inspired olympic mascots of the past.
I disagree; I don't think something that is "over-produced" is bad as long and it was properly executed (Cobi, for example). These were not very well executed, as it still looks like a committee of 12 people put their own ideas into this creation and the result is a mess ("They need to be cute!", "Make them in the shape of our country!", "Give them Greek names!", "Greeks went barefoot—Give them bare feet! and make the feet huge, so people can tell they're barefoot!", etc.)

kudos to the decision-makers for contesting american imperialism [and the perspectives of literal minded people].
I can't grasp that logic—Because these are abstract in design, it's "contesting American imperialism"? That's an incongruent argument for a thin veil of your political bias. You are dismissed.
posted by Down10 at 10:56 PM on April 4, 2002

I actually think I could grow to like Athena and Phevos. They're very European

Once again will you please not tar all Europeans with the same brush. There's no way these mascots (love the hot cross bun breasts) could have originated from the UK. I wouldn't put it past France though.
posted by Summer at 1:48 AM on April 5, 2002

Those obviously aren't her breasts; those are registration marks indicating where her breasts will later attach.
posted by johnnyace at 2:27 AM on April 5, 2002

I am Greek. I live in Greece. When I saw these mascots I checked the domain, the AP trademark, I was looking for some sign that this is a joke.

I lived in Atlanta before their Olympics too. These are marginally better than whats-its-name. This is not saying much.
posted by costas at 2:35 AM on April 5, 2002

Ok, I went looking for some explanation on Greek sites. This is an introduction to the mascots by a leading Greek paper. They take the same "huh?" stance, but at least they provide an explanation. Apparently the inspiration for the mascots is the ceramic doll pictured on the page, dating from 7th century BC, that's considered the oldest doll found in Greece.

This makes me feel marginally better about Athena and Phevos (pronounced Athee-NA and FEE-vos, BTW).
posted by costas at 2:40 AM on April 5, 2002

Down10, - please define "well-executed".

because these icons do not fulfill your expectation of what mascots should be [ie arent cute animals with nice big cute eyes, aren't classically "cool" images by the latest trends etc], they must be designed by a confused commitee? i fail to see this logic also.

[i am dismiissed because i dont agree or dont share the same bias as you? wtf? harrumph! indeed.]
posted by elphTeq at 5:08 AM on April 5, 2002

This is what the official Athens 2004 site has to say about the mascots.
They are butt ugly: ancient ceramic dolls OK- but the originals were at least better designed. As a Greek I can now demand that the creators and the committee that organised the competition be prosecuted for... for... for displaying penis shaped characters to minors (or something, I'll consult my lawyer)...
posted by talos at 5:16 AM on April 5, 2002

They remind me of caricatures of two gay guys, which would go along with the Greek think I guess. When I learned the left one's name was Athena, I thought "That is one ugly transvestite", but then that wouldn't be the first time I thought that.
posted by mischief at 5:23 AM on April 5, 2002

I want a cross hair on the guy blob's crotch.

Equal opportunity crosshairs!!!
posted by aacheson at 6:55 AM on April 5, 2002

no marbles for greece for sure.

my doctor told me not to get weird mascot in my eyes.
posted by Frasermoo at 7:36 AM on April 5, 2002

I'd love to see the gang at Fark photoshop their Athens 2004 mascots.

On second thought, maybe not.
posted by andnbsp at 9:11 AM on April 5, 2002

yhbc: I thought they looked like an Erlenmeyer flask which is what I assumed Windigo was referring to.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:49 AM on April 5, 2002