Looks like another swing and a miss. Or Kobi retains the title, depending on your perspective.
I remember when Izzy was introduced at Barcelona, only was called, "WhatzIt." Still looked like a mish-mash created by branding experts, but the new name was an improvement. This mascot (apparently there are two of them) are referred to as "The Phryges," a reference to the Phrygian cap. Ahem:
LA Poinconneur des Lilas wrote:
The Phrygian cap is an updated version of a conical hat worn in antiquity in places such as Persia, the Balkans, Thrace, Dacia and Phrygia, a place in modern day Turkey where the name originates. It later became a symbol of the pursuit of liberty in the French Revolution.
Great choice for a country that will be majority-Muslim any second now, where the youth movement is bubbling over, and where Macron is, from what I can tell, universally hated by young people. Worst mascot of all time? C'est vrai!
The all-time worst mascot was Misha the Bear from the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. The organizing committee ordered a zillion of them, then every country with tourists wealthy enough to actually buy one went and boycotted the Olympics. Those ugly-azz surplus bears were showing up as mascots for 4th and 5th-tier events for decades afterwards.
Wow. I hope you’re not permitted to make any decorating or style decisions, including dressing yourself, I just looked up Misha and it is not remotely close to the ugliest mascot. On the contrary, it’s likely top three best mascots.
ATLANTA (AP) — Hey, Izzy, we’ve got some good news. Your 26-year reign as the worst Olympic mascot is over. The much-despised, often-ridiculed, computer-generated blob from the 1996 Atlanta Games has been toppled as the G.O.A.T. (Grossest Of All Time) by a ... well, we’re not quite sure what it’s supposed to be.
A blood droplet?
A red poop emoji?
A French version of Gumby? (Where’s Eddie Murphy when you need him?)
After a further bit of research, we discover the mascot for the 2024 Paris Olympics is a hat known as a Phryge.
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Note from rojo: I've got to disagree with the AP. I went to the 1996 Olympics and don't even remember the mascot. I just looked it up. Way uglier. My Princeton econ degree doesn't understnad that.
It's a Phrygian cap, it was a symbol during the French revolution (and was a symbol of a slave getting his freedom in the Roman empire). It actually appears on the New York state flag.
