What Is the Mascot for the Winter Olympics?

Host Cities Create a Brand New Mascot Every Four Years

Many sports fans assume the Winter Games operate with a single, permanent symbol in the same way a professional team keeps one beloved bulldog or bear on the sidelines for decades. When people search online for the official mascot of the Winter Olympics without specifying a host city or a calendar year, they run into dozens of conflicting names, animal drawings, and colorful costumes. That confusion is natural because the Winter Olympics does not have one permanent mascot.

Instead, the International Olympic Committee assigns the responsibility of hosting the Games to a different city every four years. Each local organizing committee receives full creative freedom to invent an original character that represents that specific edition of the Games. A mascot created for a quiet mountain village in Norway will look and feel completely different from one drawn for an urban winter celebration in Canada, Russia, or China.

These characters serve as welcoming ambassadors during the years leading up to the opening ceremony. They greet arriving international athletes at airports, star in animated promotional videos, visit local elementary schools, and appear on everything from warm knit hats to collector pins. Once the closing ceremony wraps up and the Olympic flame is extinguished, that mascot formally steps away from active duty. The character retires into the Olympic history archives, making room for the next host nation to introduce its own creation.

Tina the Stoat Leads the Upcoming Winter Games

The official mascot representing the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, is an energetic white stoat named Tina. Her name comes directly from Cortina, the mountain town hosting many of the premier snow events during the competition. Tina represents curiosity, creativity, and the belief that big dreams require dedication and steady effort.

A stoat is a small, slender mountain mammal closely related to weasels. In cold regions across Europe and North America, stoats possess a fascinating natural trait: their fur coat switches from reddish-brown during warm summer months to pure white during the winter. This natural camouflage allows them to slip across deep mountain snowdrifts without drawing attention from predators. Choosing a stoat gives Italian organizers a lively, agile character that lives naturally throughout the Italian Alps.

Italian school children played a central role in bringing Tina to life. The organizing committee ran a nationwide design contest across Italian primary and middle schools, inviting young students to submit their ideas for the Games. Students from a school in southern Italy drew the original stoat sketches, which professional artists then polished into the final mascot design.

Tina does not travel through the snowy Alpine valleys alone. She travels alongside six small, playful companions known as the Flo. The Flo are six animated snowdrop flowers that pop up through melting winter snow to support Tina, share laughs with spectators, and remind everyone to treat mountain environments with care and respect.

Recent Winter Games Featured Pandas, Tigers, and Bears

If you watched the Winter Games on television over the past two decades, you likely remember specific characters that dominated daily broadcasts. Looking back at recent host cities shows just how diverse and imaginative these regional figures can be.

For Beijing 2022, the official mascot was Bing Dwen Dwen, an endearing giant panda wrapped in a clear full-body shell made of ice. The ice shell was shaped like an astronaut suit, combining traditional Chinese culture with modern winter technology. In Mandarin, the word "Bing" means ice, representing purity and strength, while "Dwen Dwen" conveys robust health and childlike warmth. The character became an instant sensation among fans, leading to massive retail lines across host venues as spectators tried to purchase plush souvenir toys.

For PyeongChang 2018 in South Korea, fans fell in love with Soohorang, a stylized white tiger. In Korean folklore, the white tiger is viewed as a sacred guardian animal that protects the land and its people. The name Soohorang blends "Sooho," the Korean word for protection, with "Rang," which comes from both the Korean word for tiger and the traditional folk anthem Arirang. Soohorang symbolized protection for the competing athletes, visitors, and volunteers braving freezing mountain air.

Sochi 2014 in Russia introduced a friendly trio of characters: a Polar Bear, a Hare, and a Leopard. Rather than appointing a private committee to choose the winners, Russian organizers held a live television vote where millions of viewers selected their favorites. The Polar Bear reflected power in sledding and bobsled events, the swift Hare showed agility on ice, and the mountain Leopard represented bravery on steep ski slopes.

Vancouver 2010 drew deep inspiration from the First Nations legends of the Pacific Northwest. Organizers introduced Quatchi, a shy sasquatch who wore a thick pair of blue ear muffs and dreamed of playing ice hockey. He was joined by Miga, a mythical "sea bear" that was part killer whale and part rare white Kermode bear. These characters helped share indigenous storytelling with millions of worldwide viewers who had never visited western Canada.

Salt Lake City 2002 celebrated Western American wildlife through three animals: Powder the snowshoe hare, Copper the coyote, and Coal the black bear. Their names echoed the primary natural resources and winter climate of Utah, while their individual speeds and strengths matched the traditional Olympic motto: Faster, Higher, Stronger.

Earlier host cities also created memorable characters that set the standard for modern Olympic symbols. In Calgary 1988, Hidy and Howdy, a pair of polar bears dressed in western cowboy gear, welcomed the world to the Canadian prairies. Going back to Grenoble 1968 in France, a two-legged figure on skis named Schuss served as the very first unofficial winter mascot, kicking off decades of creative winter sports ambassadors.

Paralympic Mascots Are Companions With Their Own Personal Stories

Every time a host city reveals an Olympic mascot, you will almost always see a second character standing shoulder to shoulder with it. This companion character serves as the official mascot for the Paralympic Winter Games, which take place in the exact same host city and mountain venues shortly after the Olympic closing ceremonies conclude.

Organizers treat the Paralympic mascot as an equal partner rather than an afterthought. The two characters are usually written into promotional stories as close friends or siblings who rely on each other's unique strengths to overcome obstacles. Their backgrounds often emphasize resilience, adaptability, and the courage to thrive in challenging environments.

In the 2026 Games, Tina the stoat shares her journey with her brother Milo, a brown-coated stoat who serves as the Paralympic ambassador. Milo was born without one of his front paws, but he never lets that physical detail stop him from exploring the Alps. He uses his strong tail to balance across logs, climbs rough rocky peaks, and invents creative solutions whenever a mountain trail looks impassable. His story shows young viewers that physical differences can be a source of strength, determination, and creativity.

Past Games paired characters in similarly thoughtful ways. In Beijing 2022, Bing Dwen Dwen shared the spotlight with Shuey Rhon Rhon, a glowing red holiday lantern character with cheerful snow patches on its head. The lantern symbol reflected the festive warmth of the Chinese New Year, illuminating dark winter nights with friendship and hope. In PyeongChang 2018, Soohorang the white tiger walked alongside Bandabi, an Asiatic black bear known for an indomitable will and deep courage in the face of adversity.

Host Nations Pick Symbols That Celebrate Local Nature and Spirit

Organizing committees spend years designing and refining character ideas before presenting them to the public. They do not pick random cartoon figures simply because they look cute on television screens. Instead, host nations follow a deliberate set of cultural, historical, and geographic themes when building an Olympic winter icon:

• Native mountain wildlife: Cities almost always turn to animals native to their snowy regions. Creatures like stoats, polar bears, snowshoe hares, and mountain tigers naturally thrive in freezing winds and sub-zero temperatures. Their physical traits connect directly to the grit, balance, and agility displayed by winter athletes.
• Traditional legends and folklore: Mascots often draw from ancient folk tales that local children grow up hearing. Sacred guardian animals, playful mythical forest beings, and regional spirits give the Games a sense of deep history and authentic cultural pride.
• Physical elements of winter: Designers frequently work natural winter materials into the costume shapes. Characters often incorporate icicles, snowdrifts, glowing lanterns, or frozen ice shells that instantly communicate cold weather and mountain majesty.
• Youth participation: Modern committees regularly open the initial concept phase to school classrooms. Asking kids to submit drawings guarantees that the final figures feel approachable, warm, and fun for younger audiences worldwide.

These designs also highlight how living things adapt to severe winter conditions. The characters often wear thick fur coats, knitted scarves, or special boots that remind viewers how cold mountain valleys really get during competition weeks. If you ever travel to a winter resort town to watch live sporting events in person, you face those exact same freezing conditions. You will quickly realize that knowing how to keep warm in winter outdoors is necessary when sitting on cold metal bleachers or standing in packed snow along a downhill ski course for several hours.

Spectators watching outdoor events in freezing alpine conditions also have to protect sensitive skin from blowing snow and icy mountain drafts. Taking time to figure out how to keep face warm in winter with thermal face coverings and warm neck gear makes the difference between enjoying the spectacle and shivering in discomfort. While animated mascots can happily dance through snowstorms without feeling the chill, real spectators need thoughtful layers to enjoy the winter sports experience safely.