Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

It was the Germans who first decided that the Olympic games needed an injection of cuteness. There is nothing inherently cute about the games. Indeed, they might be thought to be the antithesis of cuteness. Managed by a committee of self-important, self-serving bureaucrats claiming to foster a spirit of international friendship and fair play, they actually foster intense rivalry between the participating nations and often a determination to win at almost any cost.

It may have been to exorcise memories of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which had been ruthlessly exploited by Adolf Hitler for his own glorification, that in 1972 the organisers of the Munich Olympics decided to sponsor an official mascot in the form of an adorable little model dachshund. It was called Waldi and was said by its designer, Otto Aicher, to represent the "gaiety" and "spirit" of the games. Waldi turned out to be very popular, especially with children, and since then there have been no Olympic games without their own lovable little mascots. These have included a Russian bear called Misha, a Disney-designed American eagle called Sam, and other animals with endearing anthropomorphic characteristics.

Freakzilla wrote: