A Thunderbird with the legs of a black bear, a Sasquatch, and a cross between a killer whale and a Spirit (white) bear. These are the recently unveiled mascots of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
My first reaction was – why didn’t they just make it simple? Perhaps the olympic gods just had too many West Coast icons to choose from and could not really decide and so thought that merging some mythical creatures with actual animals was the best way to represent Vancouver/Whistler. Methinks someone had way too much eggnog, and it’s barely December.
Let’s examine the mascots one by one and see what the brilliant minds at VanOC came up with.
First on the block is Sumi. Sumi is the Thunderbird slash black bear who has been forced to wear the ridiculous three-pointed hat. Sumi, of course, is the native word for “sue me”. Kidding. It’s actually from “Sumesh” meaning Guardian Spirit. And what in the world is a Thunderbird? Well, it is a mythical giant bird from native North American lore. This bird is said to be so big that when it flaps its wings, it thunders. Sumi should have just been a Thunderbird, with thunderbird legs not bear ones. And yes, lose the hat.
Second, Quatchi, the Sasquatch or Big Foot. Now, I don’t know about you, but if you had one chance to broadcast to the world a reason to come to Vancouver in 2010 or any other year, for that matter, would you pick a hairy ape to be your spokesperson/ape? Well, yes, in fact I would. Of the three mascots, this is the one that’s growing on me. Quatchi is cute and huggably loveable. He also lives where we usually go for holidays – Harrison Hot Springs. [Note to self: next time, stay inside the resort, unless you want an unscheduled meet-and-greet with Mr. Kokanee] Now, if he could just lose his posse.
Third up to bat is Miga. Now, Miga is the weirdest one and the most anime-looking. Her name also sounds more Latino than anything. Miga is, get this – half killer whale and half Kermode bear (Spirit Bear). She lives on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, on the wind-beaten shores of Tofino. She rises from the waves and as soon as she lands on terra firma, she loses her fins and walks like a bear. Now, as if the Spirit Bear didn’t evoke enough mystic. Doesn’t the native lore narrate that the Spirit bear were actually Black Bears that the spirits turned white to remind everyone of the ice age? Well, since I am the only one in the room, I’ll answer: yes.
Now, there is actually a fourth mascot (as if we weren’t confused enough already), Mukmuk. Mukmuk isn’t a chimeric combination of a myth and an animal, it is in fact a caricature from a real animal: the Vancouver Island marmot. This small mammal (a rodent) did the impossible, beating back prospects of extinction (they were down to the last 25 in the world a few years ago). But do you see Mukmuk prancing around with the others at the Bell Centre for the unveiling? No. Their press release says that Mukmuk won’t ever be seen in the flesh (unless you go looking for her in the island). She will only be seen on the Vancouver 2010 website.
Too bad, Mukmuk would have been the perfect mascot. Cute and cuddly, and a real survivor at that. Now, we’re stuck with a flying bear, Big Foot, and a penguin-looking “sea-bear” as mascot-wannabees. Good grief. Oh well, let the games begin.
