Each Olympic Games has its own talismans, which are part of the Olympic symbols and help to better convey the national flavor of the host country of the competition, and also bring good luck to athletes. Most often, an animal or a fictional creature is used as an Olympic mascot. In 2011, the mascots of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi were determined.
How talismans were created
Initially, the residents of Sochi chose their mascot for the upcoming Olympic Games. It was a skiing dolphin, painted by the Yaroslavl artist Olga Belyaeva. Voting took place in 2008. However, after the publication of the results, the Sochi-2014 organizing committee announced that the elections for the official mascot of the Games would take place no earlier than 2011.
In 2010, an all-Russian competition was announced to create the idea of the Games mascots for everyone. In total, 24,048 works were sent to the competition from participants from all over Russia, as well as from foreign countries. The contestants sent in many comical versions, many of which became popular favorites. Among them are the tailless toad Zorg, Mittens and even Pedobir, popular on the Internet. Despite the nationwide recognition, the Sochi 2014 Olympic Committee and members of the selection committee did not allow dubious applicants to participate in the final vote.
How was the final vote
In December, an expert jury summed up the results of the first round and selected 11 main contenders for the title of the symbol of the Olympic Games in Sochi and 3 for the Paralympic Games. Before the decisive vote, it was announced that the jury had excluded Santa Claus from the list of candidates for the title of the mascot of the Olympics, since for Russians he is already a symbol of the New Year, and in case of victory it would belong to the International Olympic Committee, like the mascots of all the Games.
In February 2011, the official mascots were finally chosen from the final ten options. This happened during the voting on the air on the First TV channel. In total, 1.4 million Russians cast their votes. The jury announced the three winners that best fit the winter nature of the Olympics. They were the Snow Leopard, who received over 28% of the votes, the White Bear, for which 18% of the viewers voted, and the Bunny with 16% of the votes. Snezhinka and Luchik became the mascots of the Paralympic Games by the choice of the Paralympic athletes.
