Misha (russian: Миша), also known as Mishka (russian: Мишка) or The Olympic Mishka (russian: Олимпийский Мишка), is the name of the
Russian Bear mascot
A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...
of the
1980 Moscow
The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...
(the XXII Summer Olympics). He was designed by children's books illustrator
Victor Chizhikov
Victor Alexandrovich Chizhikov (russian: Виктор Александрович Чижиков; 26 September 1935 – 20 July 2020) was a Russian children's book illustrator and the designer of the Olympic mascot, Misha, of the 1980 Moscow Oly ...
.
Misha is the first
mascot
A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...
of a sporting event to achieve large-scale commercial success in merchandise. The Misha doll was used extensively during the opening and closing ceremonies, appeared on several merchandise products and had both an animated short film (animated by
Soyuzmultfilm
Soyuzmultfilm ( rus, Союзмультфи́льм, p=səˌjʉsmʊlʲtˈfʲilʲm , ''Union Cartoon'') (also known as SMF Animation Studio in English, Formerly known as Soyuzdetmultfilm) is a Russian animation studio based in Moscow. Launched in ...
) and a television series (animated by
Nippon Animation
is a Japanese animation studio. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, with chief offices in the Ginza district of Chūō and production facilities in Tama City.
Nippon Animation is known for producing numerous anime series based on works of ...
), all of which are now common practice not only in the Olympic Games, but also in the
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
and other events' mascots.
[Alpert, Lukas I.. (20 February 2014]
Russians Get Misty for 1980 Olympic Mascot Misha—Except for His Creator – WSJ
Online.wsj.com. Retrieved on 2016-07-02.
Origins of the name ''Misha''
In
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
, ''Misha'' is a
short form for the Russian male name
Mikhail (Michael), and ''Mishka'' is a
diminutive of ''Misha''.
This name, in any of its forms, is a common
colloquialism in Russian for a bear, because it is similar to the standard name for 'bear,' ''медведь'' (''medved'
''). Also, most
anthropomorphic bears in Russian fairy tales have this name. It is thought to originate as a
euphemism for ''medved'
'', which was
taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
ed because of
magical thinking
Magical thinking, or superstitious thinking, is the belief that unrelated events are causally connected despite the absence of any plausible causal link between them, particularly as a result of supernatural effects. Examples include the idea that ...
that letting out the "true name" of the dangerous animal may cause it to come and attack. ''Medved (which means "honey-eater") itself is thought to be older
Proto-Slavic
Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium B.C. through the 6th ...
euphemism for
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...
*r̥kþos.
Origins
In 1977, the committee organizing the Olympics held a contest for the best illustration of a bear. The judges chose Victor Chizhikov's design depicting a smiling bear cub wearing a blue-black-yellow-green-red (colors of the Olympic rings) weightlifter's belt, with a golden buckle shaped like the five rings. Misha's design of a small, cuddly and smiling bear cub was evidently intended to counter the "big and brutal
Russian Bear". Misha was confirmed as an official mascot on 19 December 1977. Chizhikov complained that the country reneged on a promise to grant him the copyright to his bear which deprived him of royalties, although the Russian Olympic Committee stated "in accordance with the Olympic Charter, after Dec. 31 of the year in which the Olympic Games had been held, all the rights to the intellectual property and the symbols of the Olympics go the International Olympic Committee".
![RIAN archive 488322 Flag-bearers of states-participants of the XXII Summer Olympic Games](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/RIAN_archive_488322_Flag-bearers_of_states-participants_of_the_XXII_Summer_Olympic_Games.jpg)
Misha's origins were depicted in the 1979 animated film ''
Baba Yaga is against!
''Baba Yaga is against! ''(Russian:Баба-яга против!) is a 1979 Soviet three-part hand-drawn cartoon, released by the Soyuzmultfilm studio for the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Plot
Misha the bear was chosen as the mascot of the Olympics, bu ...
''
During the
closing ceremony of the 1980 Olympic Games, a giant effigy of Misha the Bear holding a cluster of balloons was paraded in the stadium. On one side of the stadium where the Olympic Torch was situated, there was a placard mural of Misha which shed tears of happiness from his left eye. At the end of the ceremony, Misha with his balloons was released and rose in the air away from the stadium, and this nostalgic moment has been fondly remembered by Russians.
A few hours later Misha landed on
Vorobyovy Gory and later was exhibited at the
Exhibition Centre
A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...
.
Legacy
Misha also appeared in the 1980 Olympics episode of the Soviet cartoon ''
Nu, pogodi!
''Well, Just You Wait!'' (russian: Ну, погоди!, Nu, pogodi!, p=ˈnu pəɡɐˈdʲi) is a Soviet, later Russian, series of animated short films produced by Soyuzmultfilm. In the 2014 all-Russian poll, ''Well, Just You Wait!'' won by a ...
'', handing trophies to the Wolf and the Hare.
In 1988, in connection with the 60th anniversary of
Mickey Mouse, a special magazine was produced in which Mickey Mouse and Misha met.
Misha's designer,
Viktor Chizhikov, accused the designer of the
polar bear mascot (named Bely Mishka, and is said to be Misha's grandson) for the
2014 Sochi Olympics
, ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'')
, nations = 88
, events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, athletes = 2,873
, opening = 7 February 2014
, closing = 23 February 2014
, opened_by = President Vladimir Putin
, cauldron =
, stadium = Fisht Olympic ...
of plagiarism. Chizhikov noted that the Bely's facial features were all taken from Misha, saying "they just pumped him up and made him fatter". Chizhikov also complained that Bely and the other two mascots (the Hare and Leopard) was lacking personality. As a result of these issues, as well as being denied the copyright to Misha, Chizhikov declined to help when asked by the organizers of the
2014 Winter Olympics closing ceremony
The closing ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics was held on 23 February 2014 from 20:14 to 22:25 MSK (UTC+4) at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi, Russia. It was designed to show Russian culture, through a European perspective, and featured ...
.
A short clip of the
1980 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
The Closing Ceremony of the 1980 Summer Olympics was held at 19:00 Moscow Time (UTC+3) on 3 August 1980 at the Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium. It was attended by the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and the Chairman o ...
of Misha's departure was shown in the
closing ceremony of the
2014 Winter Olympics, afterward the giant animatronic
polar bear Mishka blew out the 2014 Games Olympic torch and sheds a tear (in a nod to Misha's tears during the end of the 1980 Games).
The main character of the manga series
Uchi no Maid ga Uzasugiru
, known as for short, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kanko Nakamura. An anime television series adaptation by Doga Kobo aired between October and December 2018.
Plot
Tsubame Kamoi, a former JSDF pilot who is attracted ...
is named after Misha.
In the 2017 film
Salyut-7, a plush toy of Misha is used as a
Zero-G
Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight. It is also termed zero gravity, zero G-force, or zero-G.
Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational fie ...
indicator by the cosmonauts.
Misha the Little Bear
, is an
anime
is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
television series produced by
Nippon Animation
is a Japanese animation studio. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, with chief offices in the Ginza district of Chūō and production facilities in Tama City.
Nippon Animation is known for producing numerous anime series based on works of ...
and
Asahi Broadcasting Corporation and directed by Yoshikata Nitta. It aired in Japan on
TV Asahi
JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Comp ...
from 6 October 1979 to 5 April 1980, running for 26 episodes. It reran on Home Drama Channel in 1999, and again in 2009 on
AT-X. Though it has never been released on DVD, it is available on various paid video distribution services in Japan.
The series was inspired by the mascot introduced for the
1980 Summer Olympics held in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
. Character designer Isamu Kumada based the design for Misha on Chizhikov's illustrations. The opening and ending animations were unfinished at the time of the first episode's broadcast, and the onscreen lyrics for the songs were also omitted. From episode 2 onwards, the main staff and theme song credits were marked in blue, and finished versions were used, which also displayed the lyrics. At the end of the opening, the 1980 Olympics emblem logo was added with text indicating that the characters were being used with the consent of the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games in Moscow.
See also
*
Olympic mascot
The Olympic mascots are fictional characters, usually an animal native to the area or human figures, who represent the cultural heritage of the place where the Olympic and Paralympic Games are taking place. The mascots are often used to help ...
*
Russian Bear
*
Brown bear
The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is ...
*
Teddy bear
A teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy b ...
References
External links
*
Anime series outline by Nippon AnimationMoscow Olympics' site includes the Misha farewell song ''До свиданья, Москва''
at the
China Daily
''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party.
Overview
''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. T ...
website
Olympics Logos and Mascots Official image of Misha
{{Nippon Animation
1979 anime television series debuts
1980 Summer Olympics
Bear mascots
Fictional bears
Olympic mascots
Soviet culture
Russian mascots