Misha (Russian: Миша), also known as Mishka (Russian: Мишка) or The Olympic Mishka (Russian: Олимпийский Мишка) is the name of the Russian Bear mascot of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games (the XXII Summer Olympics). He was designed by children's books illustrator Victor Chizhikov.

Misha is the first mascot of a sporting event to achieve large-scale commercial success in merchandise. The Misha doll was used extensively during the opening and closing ceremonies, appeared on several merchandise products and had both an animated short film (animated by Soyuzmultfilm) and a television series (animated by Nippon Animation), all of which are now common practice not only in the Olympic Games, but also in the FIFA World Cup and others events' mascots.

Misha also appeared in the 1980 Olympics episode of the Russian cartoon Nu, pogodi!, handing trophies to the Wolf and the Hare.

Origins of the name Misha [edit]

In Russian, Misha is a short form for the Russian male name Mikhail (Michael), and Mishka is a diminutive of Misha.

This name, in any of its forms, is a common colloquialism in Russian for a bear, because it is similar to the standard name for bear медведь (medved). Also, most anthropomorphic bears in Russian fairy tales have this name. It is thought to originate as euphemism for medved, which was tabooed due to magical thinking that letting out the "true name" of the dangerous animal may cause it to come and attack. Medved (which means "honey eater") itself is thought to be older Proto-Slavic euphemism for Proto-Indo-European *r̥kþos.

Origins [edit]

In 1977, the committee organizing the Olympics held a contest for the best illustration of a bear. The judges chose Victor Chizhikov's design depicting a smiling bear cub wearing a blue-black-yellow-green-red (colors of the Olympic rings) belt, with a golden buckle shaped like the five rings. Misha was confirmed as an official mascot on December 19th, 1977.

During the closing ceremony of the 1980 Olympic Games, Misha the bear appeared with a tear in its eye. He was holding a couple of balloons and at the end he was released and flew away from the stadium. He disappeared. A few hours later he landed on Vorobyovy Gory and later was exhibited at the Exhibition Centre for some time.

In 1988, in connection with the 60th anniversary of Mickey Mouse, a special magazine was produced in which Mickey Mouse and Misha met.^[1]

See also [edit]

• Olympic mascot
• Russian Bear
• Brown bear
• Teddy bear
• Misha Collins

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Koguma no Misha (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Bear Cub Misha Lover's Association, Misha's fan page (in Japanese).
• Moscow Olympics' site, includes the Misha farewell song До свиданья, Москва
• Translation of the Misha song to English at the China Daily website
• Olympics Logos and Mascots: Official image of Misha

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