Miga and Quatchi are the official mascots of the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

, Sumi is the official mascot of the

2010 Winter Paralympics ) , nations = 44 , athletes = 506 , events = 64 in 5 sports , opening = 12 March , closing = 21 March , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Zach Beaumont , stadium = BC Place , winter_pr ...

, and Mukmuk is their designated "

sidekick A sidekick is a slang expression for a close companion or colleague (not necessarily in fiction) who is, or is generally regarded as, subordinate to the one they accompany. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, ...

" for both games, held in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. The four mascots were introduced on November 27, 2007. They were designed by the Canadian and American design studio,

Meomi Design Meomi Design Inc is a Canadian/American design studio based in Vancouver and Los Angeles founded by Vicki Wong and Michael C. Murphy in 2002. Their works include the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics mascots Miga, Quatchi, Sumi and Mukmuk, and The Oc ...

. It was the first time (since

Cobi and Petra Cobi was the official mascot of the 1992 Summer Olympics and Petra was the official mascot of the 1992 Summer Paralympics, both held in Barcelona, Spain. Cobi is a Catalan Sheepdog in Cubist style designed by Javier Mariscal and inspired by ...

) that the Olympic and Paralympic mascots were introduced at the same time.

Development

The emblem of

, "Ilanaaq the

Inukshuk An inuksuk (plural inuksuit) or inukshuk (from the iu, ᐃᓄᒃᓱᒃ, plural ; alternatively in Inuinnaqtun, in Iñupiaq, in Greenlandic) is a type of stone landmark or cairn built by, and for the use of, Inuit, Iñupiat, Kalaallit, Yupi ...

", was picked through an open contest. However, it met criticism from some aboriginal groups over its design. So the mascot artist was selected through a competition. Through the process where 177 professionals around the world were submitted their ideas, five were made final. In December 2006, VANOC eventually selected concepts from Meomi Design. Formed in 2002, Meomi is a group of Vicki Wong, a Vancouver-born Canadian of Chinese descent who worked in graphic and web design, and Michael Murphy, born in

Milford, Michigan Milford is a village in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 6,175 at the time of the 2010 census. The village is located within Milford Township. The village is known for being the home of the Milford General Motors ...

, who worked in design and motion graphics. Writing for ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'', experts Michael Erdmann and John Ryan, while making comments on the mascots of the Olympic Games held in Canada, pointed out that Meomi's character drawing styles "are more closely related to

Urban Vinyl Art toys, also called designer toys, are toys and collectibles created by artists and designers that are either self-produced or made by small, independent toy companies, typically in very limited editions. Artists use a variety of materials, such ...

... After the selection, Meomi provided more than 20 different concepts to VANOC, and three concepts were selected. The conception of the mascots were based on the local wildlife, as well as First Nations legends, mythologies and legendary creatures. During the design process, an early name for Quatchi was dismissed when the undisclosed word was found to have a rude connotation in another language. An animated video by Buck, a design studio based in New York and Los Angeles, with music provided by

Kid Koala Eric San (born December 5, 1974), aka Kid Koala, is a Canadian scratch DJ, music producer, theatre producer, film composer, multimedia-performer and visual artist. His career began as a scratch DJ in 1994. Kid Koala works with genres as eclectic ...

was screened on the first public presentation of the mascots. Details about mascots were kept secret until November 27, 2007 when they were unveiled to the public.

Mascots

The first public presentation of the mascots took place before 800 schoolchildren at the Bell Centre For Performing Arts in

Surrey, British Columbia Surrey is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the Fraser River on the Canada–United States border. It is a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver regional district and metropolitan area. Mainly a suburban city, Surr ...

. This represents the first time that the Olympic and Paralympic mascots were introduced at the same time. Miga and Quatchi are mascots for the

, while Sumi is the mascot for the

. Aside of three mascots, Mukmuk is their designated "sidekick". Thus, there are two Olympic mascots and one Paralympic mascot as well as one "sidekick". They made a cameo appearance in

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is a 2009 and 2011 sports and party game developed by Sega. Like its predecessor, it was published by Nintendo for Japan and Korea and by Sega in the Western world. The game is officially licensed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) th ...

Reception

Popularity

Mukmuk, although a designated "sidekick", was a run-away success, "capturing the hearts of Games-goers everywhere"; including an impromptu "protest" at the

Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Franc ...

to make him a full-fledged mascot, and making "Top 5" for the Olympic games in the Vancouver edition of '' 24 Hours''.

Criticism and image confusion

When the mascots were unveiled, there were initial concerns over whether they were effective at representing British Columbia and Canada. On July 3, 2009, Canadian artist Michael R. Barrick created two composite images – one based on the official art, and the other based on a

fan art Fan art or fanart is artwork created by fans of a work of fiction and derived from a series character or other aspect of that work. They are usually done by amateur artists, semi-professionals or professionals. As fan labor, fan art refers to ...

created by Angela Melick – depicting the official mascots alongside

Pedobear Pedobear is an Internet meme that became popular through the imageboard 4chan. As the name suggests ("pedo" being short for "pedophile"), it is portrayed as a pedophilic cartoon bear. It is a concept used to mock child sex offenders or people ...

, an

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

popularized by the

imageboard An imageboard is a type of Internet forum that focuses on the posting of images, often alongside text and discussion. The first imageboards were created in Japan as an extension of the textboard concept. These sites later inspired the creation of ...

4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime and manga to video games, cooking, weapons, television, ...

. The images were created to make "a visual critique of how the style of the mascots resembles the style of Pedobear." As a result of the images receiving high rankings on

Google Images Google Images (previously Google Image Search) is a search engine owned by Google that allows users to search the World Wide Web for images. It was introduced on July 12, 2001 due to a demand for pictures of the green Versace dress of Jennifer Lo ...

, this image was mistakenly used by other media. The Polish newspaper ''

Gazeta Olsztyńska ''Gazeta Olsztyńska'' (English: ''Olsztyn Daily'') is a Polish language newspaper, published in Olsztyn. The newspaper was first published in the years 1886–1939, in what was then East Prussia. Its first editor in chief was an ethnic Warmiak J ...

'' used one of the images for a front-page story about the then-upcoming Olympics, published on February 4, 2010. Similarly, the Dutch television guide Avrobode used one of the images.

After the games

In compliance with the strict orders of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

which require that the mascots must not be animated or be worn again so that the raw material cannot be reused, 48 of the 61 life-sized mascot costumes were destroyed. Three full sets of costumes are kept in Canada, one full set has gone to the IOC in Switzerland, and one Sumi costume has gone to the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and fun ...

in Germany.https://vancouversun.com/travel/Mascots+Quatchi+Sumi+Miga+will+never+animated+again/3002101/story.html

References

External links

Official Mascots page

Official Mascots Merchandise

(November 26, 2007)
Meomi Design - Designers of mascotszinc Roe Design microsite of the mascots
{{Olympic mascots 2010 Winter Olympics 2010 Winter Paralympics Olympic mascots Paralympic mascots Fictional hybrids Bear mascots Bigfoot in popular culture Totem poles Canadian mascots Fictional characters with air or wind abilities Fictional characters with water abilities Fictional characters with superhuman strength Fictional characters from British Columbia