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London 2012 Mascots: Meet Wenlock and Mandeville: Photos
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by Amy Judd | May 19, 2010 at 03:03 pm
1969 views | 24 Recommendations | 6 comments
The London 2012 Mascots Have Been Unveiled - Meet Wenlock and Mandeville
Already causing a storm of controversy, the long-awaited mascots for the London 2012 Olympic Games have been unveiled and their names are Wenlock and Mandeville. The London 2012 website has a video about them, but let's take a closer look.
Both Wenlock and Mandeville are created from 'the last two drops of British steel used for the London 2012 Olympic stadium'.
Wenlock apparently gets his name from Much Wenlock in Shropshire, which is where the Much Wenlock Games were held in the 19th century. These games were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games from Greece and Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who founded the modern Olympic Games was invited to the Much Wenlock Games.
The shape of Wenlock's head is inspired by the roof of the London Olympic stadium and the light on his head is like that of a black taxi; an iconic London symbol. The three points on his head represent the Olympic podium where the athletes stand to get their medals.
Wenlock loves all Olympic sports and wears friendship bracelets on his wrists that are the colors of the Olympic rings.
Mandeville is more closely tied to the Paralympics and got his name from Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire, where the first Paralympic Games were held. It was in 1948 that Sir Ludwig Guttmann held his own Games for WWII soldiers with spinal injuries on the same day that the 1948 London Olympic Games opened.
These Games grew in to the Paralympic Games.
Mandeville also has a light on the top of his head from the London taxis and the three points on top of his head represent the Paralympic emblem. He is described as a 'spirit in motion' and is always rushing around so he has to be aerodynamic.
He has a personal best timer on his wrist.
View some photos of the London 2012 Mascots below - what do you think of them?
Photos
London 2012 Mascots: Meet Wenlock and Mandeville: Photos | Photo 02
uploaded by Getty Images
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Recommendations (24)
Rory Cripps
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Rhonda J Mangus
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Vancouver, Canada
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (6)
at 15:07 on May 19th, 2010
I was mortified to first lay eyes on these... things.
at 19:48 on May 19th, 2010
what an embarasment to this country this is, what a waste of money, what a waste of a golden opportunity to show the world our culture and artistic creativity, first shown to children? first drawn, created and approved by infantile mentalities is more like it !!!!
at 20:54 on May 19th, 2010
I am from the US and have attended seven Olympic Games, five sumer and two winter. I worked on the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. The insistence of organizers to put out these mascots that are just awful is beyond me. I am in amazement nearly every Games when gazing upon the lousy creations that somehow make it as a final pick. London has indeed missed an opportunity. Most of the last several Games have done just that. I will be in attendance for the Games in London and I love the city. When faced with Mandeville and Wenlock I will still be shaking my head in disbelief as I am now. These mascots are perhaps the worst ever.
at 23:19 on May 24th, 2010
Hi, We are an industrial design studio from Barcelona TRIADISSENY. This is the mascot that we would have liked to offer to you, but unfortunately we couldn't. As you will see, in our web site: www.triadisseny.cat, it is the Cheshire Cat, we thought that it was a traditional English icon. We designed a mascot that went together with the Logo, this was our intention. It is a pity but we couldn't register for the competition, in our opinion, the rules were intended for big companies, we tried to contact some companies but we didn't receive any response. On the other hand, it seemed reasonable that the company to win the contest had to be English and, for us, compete would mean a great effort without much hope. By the way, we designed the mascot of the 2008 International Expo, where the theme was the water. Anyways, we want to show you what we have done and we hope you like it.
at 09:28 on May 26th, 2010
This is so cringeworthy, but then what you do you expect with the 'dodgy London 2012' logo.
I was mortified too! What must other countries think?
I like the idea of using links for the mascots but I think they went about it all wrong.
Now there must be a I hate the London 2012 Olympic Mascot Facebook Group somewhere.....
at 23:29 on June 1st, 2010
If Izzy the Whatizit from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and Turanga Leela from the animated American television series "Futurama" had twins, they'd look just like Wenlock and Mandeville.