Bing Dwen Dwen, the official mascot of the 2022 Winter Olympics, has been one of the more popular Olympic mascots in recent memory, with people lining the streets to purchase their own version of the friendly panda.
Here's a look back at all of the Olympic mascots since they were introduced in 1968.
1968 Winter Olympics: Shuss
Shuss, a little man on skis, was created in a hurry ahead of the 1968 Games in Grenoble. His designer had just one night to prepare a plan for submission.
1972 Summer Olympics: Waldi
This daschshund was shaped like the Olympic marathon route in 1972 in Munich.
1976 Winter Olympics: Schneemandl
The official mascot for the second Winter Olympics was a snowman that wore a Tyrolean hat from the Innsbruck region of Austria.
1976 Summer Olympics: Amik
Amik, a beaver, was chosen after a national competition in Canada ahead of the Montreal Games.
1980 Winter Olympics: Roni
Lake Placid school children chose Roni, which means "racoon" in Iroquoian, the langauge of the Indigenous people from the state of New York.
1980 Summer Olympics: Misha
Misha is a bear, an animal that appears in many popular stories, songs and poems in Russia.
1984 Winter Olympics: Vučko
Wolves are typically found in Sarajevo, the site of the 1984 Winter Olympics, hence the mascot Vučko.
1984 Summer Olympics: Sam
The 1984 Olympics, held in Los Angeles, featured a friendly and cheerful eagle mascot named Sam.
1988 Winter Olympics: Hidy and Howdy
These two polar bears that were at the Calgary Olympics were intended to represent the region's hospitality and greetings.
1988 Summer Olympics: Hodori
The tiger, the mascot for the Seoul Summer Games, was named "Hodori." The animal frequently appears in Korean popular art and legends.
1992 Winter Olympics: Magique
Magique was the first mascot that was not an animal since 1976. The star-shaped mascot symbolized dreams and imagination at the Albertville Olympics.
1992 Summer Olympics: Cobi
Cobi, a human Pyrenean mountain dog, was a refernece to COOB'92, the abbreviation for the Barcelona '92 Olympic Organizing Committee.
1994 Winter Olympics: Haakon and Kristin
Haakon and Kristin, the mascots for the 1994 Lillehammer Games, were references to historical figures from the 13th century.
1996 Summer Olympics: Izzy
The mascot for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta was Izzy -- an unusual mascot because he wasn't an animal, human or object.
1998 Winter Olympics: Sukki, Nooki, Lekki and Tsukki
The four snowy owls were mascots at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano.
2000 Summer Olympics: Syd, Olly and Millie
The Sydney Olympics featured Syd, a duck-billed platypus, Olly, a kookaburra and Millie, an echidna or spiny anteater.
2002 Winter Olympics: Powder, Coal and Copper
In Utah, the snowshoe hare, coyote and black bear were an homage to Utah's snow, natural resources and land.
2004 Summer Olympics: Phevos and Athena
Aptly named for the Athens Olympics, "Phevos" is another name for Apollo -- the god of light and music -- while "Athena" is the goddess of wisdom.
2006 Winter Olympics: Neve and Gliz
For the Olympics in Turin, "Neve" means snow and "Gliz" is a reference to the word "ghiaccio," which means ice in Italian.
2008 Summer Olympics: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, Nini
At the first Olympics in Beijing, each of the mascots' names rhymed by repeating the same syllable.
2010 Winter Olympics: Quatchi and Miga
The Vancouver Games mascots were inspired by fauna and tales of the First Nations on Canada's West Coast.
2012 Summer Olympics: Wenlock
Wenlock's appearance came from one of the last drops of steel used to build London's Olympic Stadium.
2014 Winter Olympics: The Hare, the Polar Bear and the Leopard
The mascots for the Sochi Games were a reference to the three places on the Olympic podium.
2016 Summer Olympics: Vinicius
Vinicius paid tribute to Brazilian poet and lyricist Vinicius de Moraes at the Rio Olympics.
2018 Winter Olympics: Soohorang
The white tiger, South Korea's guardian animal, stood guard over the Olympics at PyeongChang.
2020 Summer Olympics: Miraitowa
Miraitowa's name comes from the Japanese words "mirai," which means future and "towa," which means eternity.
2022 Winter Olympics: Bing Dwen Dwen
The current mascot, Bing Dwen Dwen, is a panda that symbolizes purity, strength and children.
