Olympic Games Mascots

Olympic Games Mascots

The first Olympic mascot appeared at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. Since then, mascots have become a main element of the Olympic image. Mascots act as a vehicle for communicating the Olympic spirit to the general public, especially children and youth. They have come in many shapes and sizes, though they all convey the theme of the Olympic Games, showcase the distinctive geographical features, history and culture of the host city.

Before 1992, most Olympic mascots were created based on a animal unique to the host countries. Since then, human or invented figures have been used, and often more than one mascot - the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games had three and the 2004 Athens Olympic Games had two, Beijing had 5 and London has gone back to two.


Waldi 1972

Amik 1976




Misha 1980



Sam 1894




Hodori 1988



Cobi 1992



Izzy 1996



Syd, Olly and Millie 2000




Athena and Phevos 2004



fuwa, beibei, jingjing, huanhuan, and yingying, 2008




finally 2012 Games Named Wenlock and Mandeville

069 India in Olympic

Dear friends and readers, these are self design stamps to show my gratitude to our Olympian, though they are non philatelic and are shown, an attempt has been made to highlight the salient features of the Indian Olympic and its glory till date.
Even though few Olympians have won the medals and saved our skin with exemplary display, our expectations relies only on our lady luck rather that well focused approach to win the medal, keeping the finger crossed and hoping that one day we will show the world that we can lead the medal’s tally and see many stamps issued by department of Indian post on this subject


2008Games:

Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the men's 10m air rifle shooting event. In doing so, he won the first ever individual gold medal for Indian and the first medal in any event for India at the Games,

2008Games:

Sushil Kumar an Indian wrestler who won the bronze medal in the Men's 66kg Freestyle Wrestling event this was Second Olympic medal in Wrestling at the games.

2008 Games:

Vijender Kumar won a bronze medal in the middleweight boxing category, having lost in the semifinals. This was India's first-ever Olympic medal in boxing at the games.

2004 Games:

She contested at the 2004 Athens Olympics, but failed to win a medalRound 1: 6.69 m, Final: 6.83 m finished 6th place

2004 Games:

Lt. Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won a Silver medal in the Shooting, Men's Double Trap, at games which made him the second Indian Men to win an Olympic Silver medal.

2000 Games :

Karnam Malleswari won a bronze medal in the games , the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal.

1988 Games:

Manoj Pingle Hero of games finished fifth in Boxing to Mexican Gonzales on split decision in the quarter-finals

1984 Games:

India didn't win a medal but the Games are remembered for bringing Indian women athletes centre stage. P. T. Usha lost the bronze medal in 400 metre hurdles by one-hundredth of a second. Earlier in the Games, Shiny Abraham (Shiny Wilson) reached the semifinals of 800 metres with a then personal best of 2:04.69 seconds and became the first Indian woman to reach the semi-finals of an Olympic event.

1980 Games:

Hari chand Hero of games in is maiden appearance in the marathon clocked 2.22.08 to finished 31st
1976 Games :
1972 Games:

Edward Sequeira India Hero of the 1972 Games leading the last lap but finished 11th in 5000mts heats

1968 Games:

Bishambar India Hero of the 1968 games was beaten in the freestyle bantamweight on points by the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist

1960 Games:

Milka Singh India Hero of the 1960 games Missed a medal by one –tenth of a second despite a time faster than the then world record

1952 Games:

India won first medal as independent Nation when Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav won the wrestling bronze medal in the year 1952

1936 Games:

Legendary Dhyan Chand the captain of India 1936 hockey team and only personality who found a place among the Indian stamps this is only stamps issuied by postal department on Olympic personality in the year 1980 after his death

1920 Games:

Phadeppa Dareppa Chaugule is India's first Olympic marathon runner. He represented India in this game, and finished 19th with a timing of 2 hours 50 minutes 45.2 seconds. He hails from the town of Belgaum in Karnataka

1900 Games:

Norman Gilbert Pritchard (also known as Norman Trevor) an athlete from India Pritchard was born in Calcutta to George Petersen Pritchard and Helen Maynard Pritchard, Pritchard was the first Indian athlete to participate in the Olympic Games and first athlete representing an Asian nation to win an Olympic medal. He won two silver medals in the 1900 Summer Olympics who went on to star in Hollywood and Broadway. He was of British descent and moved to England permanently in 1905.

063 1972 Munich disaster

The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, in what was then WestGermany, the game held from August 26 to September 11, 1972. The total 7170 Athletes participated (6075 men, 1095 women) in the games in 195 Events 23 sports
" This image is taken from http://www.delcampe.net/ I have this cover and complete set of this games" in my collection

The Games were largely overshadowed by what has come to be known as the Munich disaster. On September 5 a group of eight Palestinian terrorists belonging to the Black September organization broke into the Olympic Village and took eleven Israeli athletes, coaches and officials hostage in their apartments. Two of the hostages who resisted were killed in the first moments of the break-in; the subsequent standoff in the Olympic Village lasted for almost 18 hours.
Late in the evening of September 5, the terrorists and their hostages were transferred by helicopter to the military airport of Fürstenfeldbruck, ostensibly to board a plane bound for an undetermined Arab country. The German authorities planned to ambush them there, but under-estimated the number of terrorists and were thus undermanned. During a botched rescue attempt, all the surviving Israeli hostages were killed. Four of them were shot, then incinerated when a Palestinian detonated a grenade inside the helicopter in which the hostages were sitting. The five remaining hostages were then machine-gunned by another terrorist.
All but three of the Palestinians were killed as well. Two of those three were supposedly hunted down and assassinated later by the Mossad. Jamal Al-Gashey is believed to be the sole survivor, and is still living today in hiding in an unspecified Arab country. The Olympic events were briefly suspended but Avery Brundage, the International Olympic Committee president, decided that "the Games must go on." Competition resumed a day later.

The attack prompted heightened security at future Olympics beginning with the 1976 Winter Olympics.

The remembers September 5, 1972, clearly. I rember in one article "a few men pacing up and down in a suspicious manner were dressed in red tracksuits the athletes thought they were athletes from other country. It was only after a few gun shots the athlets learnt that some athletes have been held hostage and later killed, and All the athletes were shocked and many even scared. Obviously, the whole episode had a bearing on the athletes performance. The Games continued after the disaster ,

Today this day i can not forget my father (Mr Mani) once told about this disaster and even though he is no more with us today the day of his remberence on his 63rd birthday

050 Indian FDC

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed,[1] some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team officials from 201 countries.[1] There were 301 medal events in 28 different sports.[1] Athens 2004 marked the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance. It was also the first time since 1896 that the Olympics were held in Greece.

India won one Silver by Lt. Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore — Shooting, Men's Double Trap.

2004 India FDC on Olympic

'2004' Torch Realy cover desin by Olympic Philatelist of India

Thanks to Madhukar Jhingan of 'Stamps of India'

The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 13 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was the second time that the Summer Olympics were held in the Southern Hemisphere, the first one being in Melbourne in 1956.

Indian won the one Bronze in this Games by Karnam Malleswari — Weightlifting, Women's 69 kg Competition.

2000 FDC on Olympic

The 1996 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

India won one Bronze by Leander Paes — Tennis, Men's Singles Competition.

1996 India FDC on Olympic

The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain in 1992.

1992 India FDC on Olympic

The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. It was the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since 1964 when the Summer Games were held in Tokyo.

1988 India FDC on Olympic

The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984. Los Angeles was selected as the host of the Games on May 18, 1978 on the 80th IOC session at Athens, Greece, without a vote, because it was the only city that submitted a bid to host the 1984 Summer Olympics. The only other interested city, Tehran, declined to bid. Many blamed this on the massive cost overruns of the 1976 Games, staged in Montreal.
In response to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, 14 Eastern Bloc countries and allies including the Soviet Union, Cuba and East Germany (but not Romania) boycotted the Games. For differing reasons, Iran and Libya also boycotted. The USSR announced its intention not to participate on May 8, 1984, citing security concerns and "chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria being whipped up in the United States"[2]. The Los Angeles boycott influenced a large number of events that were normally dominated by the absent countries. Boycotting countries organized a rival event in July-August 1984, called the Friendship Games.
The host state of California was the home state of U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who officially opened the Games. He had served as governor of the state from 1967 to 1975. The official mascot of the Los Angeles Games was Sam the Olympic Eagle.

India competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States. India didn't win a medal but the Games are remembered for bringing Indian women athletes centre stage. P. T. Usha lost the bronze medal in 400 metre hurdles by one-hundredth of a second. Earlier in the Games, Shiny Abraham (now Shiny Wilson) reached the semifinals of 800 metres with a (then) personal best of 2:04.69 seconds and became the first Indian woman to reach the semi-finals of an Olympic event. She finished last in the semifinal.
Later, the Indian women's 4x400 metre relay team comprising of P. T. Usha, Shiny Abraham, M. D. Valsamma and Vandana Rao made it to the finals. They finished last among the seven teams in the final but set an Asian record of 3:32.49 seconds

1984 FDC on Olympic

1980 FDC of Major Dhyan 'Chand' Singh (August 29, 1905 – December 3, 1979), better known as Dhyan Chand was an Indian hockey player, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time A legendary center-forward, he is remembered for his goal-scoring feats and successful matches, both as a player and later as captain. Chand won 3 Olympic gold medals (1928 Amsterdam, 1932 Los Angeles, 1936 Berlin) and was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, in 1956 He was the elder brother of equally famous fellow player Roop Singh. He got the title Chand (literally Moon) from his first coach, Pankaj Gupta, who had predicted that he would one day shine like on. Even today, Chand remains a figure of veneration, and a number of legends about him are famous in the realm of Indian sport.

1980 India FDC on Indian Olympian

The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football (soccer) tournament were held in Leningrad, Kiev, and Minsk. The 1980 Games were the first to be staged in Eastern Europe.

1980 India FDC on Olympic

The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and Los Angeles, which later hosted the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympic Games, respectively.

1976 India FDC on Olympic Games

The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, in what was then West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972.
The 1972 Summer Olympics were the second Summer Olympics to be held in Germany, after the 1936 Games in Berlin. The Munich Olympics were intended to present a new, democratic and optimistic Germany to the world, as shown by its official motto, "the Happy Games." The emblem of the Games was a blue solar logo (the "Bright Sun"). The Olympic mascot, the dachshund "Waldi", was the first officially-named Olympic mascot. The Games also saw the introduction of the now-universal sports pictograms designed by Otl Aicher (Previously in Mexico 1968 Olympics, a pictogram system was used to identify the venues, but it was more focused in the equipment used on each sport). However, this joyful mood was marred by the killings of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists in an event known as the Munich massacre.
The Olympic Park (Olympiapark) is based on Frei Otto's plans and after the Games became a Munich landmark. The competition sites, designed by architect Günther Behnisch, included the Olympic swimming hall, the Olympics Hall (Olympiahalle, a multipurpose facility) and the Olympic Stadium (Olympiastadion), and an Olympic village very close to the park. The design of the stadium was considered revolutionary, with sweeping canopies of acrylic glass stabilized by metal ropes, used on such a large scale for the first time.

1972 India Secound FDC on Olympic

The 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City in October 1968. The 1968 Games were the first Olympic Games hosted by a developing country, and were also the first Games hosted by Spanish-speaking country. It is the only Games ever held in Latin America, and it was the second to be hosted outside of Europe, Australia, or the United States.

1968 India first FDC on Olympic Games