Waldi
Encyclopedia
Waldi was the first official Olympic mascot. Created for the 1972 Summer Olympics
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....

 in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, he was a dachshund
Dachshund
The dachshund is a short-legged, long-bodied dog breed belonging to the hound family. The standard size dachshund was bred to scent, chase, and flush out badgers and other burrow-dwelling animals, while the miniature dachshund was developed to hunt smaller prey such as rabbits...

, a popular breed of dog from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. Waldi was designed by Otl Aicher and modeled on a real dog, a long-haired Dachshund named Cherie von Birkenhof. Waldi's head and tail were blue and his body was stripes of most of the other Olympic colors, excluding those colors related to the Nazi Party. The course of the marathon was designed to incorporate the Waldi design, and during the construction phase of the 1972 Olympic stadium and village, Waldi was used in unofficial satirical posters.

Origin

Waldi was created by German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 designer Otl Aicher, who amongst others was also responsible for designing the logo for German airline Lufthansa
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...

. The Dachshund was the first official Olympic mascot, as the 1968 Winter Olympics
1968 Winter Olympics
The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1968 in Grenoble, France and opened on 6 February. Thirty-seven countries participated...

 was the first to use an unofficial mascot, which was red ball on skis named "Schuss". Waldi was designed to represent the attributes described as required for athletes — resistance, tenacity and agility
Agility
* Agility is a physical trait of an animal or person, and a component of physical fitness. It is the ability to change the body's position and direction with speed and precision.Agility may also refer to:In Sport:...

.

Waldi was based on a real long-haired Dachshund named Cherie von Birkenhof, which Aicher used as a model. Although Waldi appeared variety of different color schemes, it is occasionally reported that the main scheme was designed to match the colors of the Olympic Rings. However, there were no black or red in the main scheme, which was a conscious decision on the part of Aicher to exclude those colors related to the Nazi Party. The 1972 games were designed to be an optimistic "Rainbow Games".

Merchandise

Fifty licences were granted to manufacturers, at a minimum licensing fee of 245,000 Deutschmarks, and over two million Waldi related items were sold around the world. Waldi was available as a plush toy, a plastic toy, and appeared on buttons, posters and stickers, and as a pin. However the pin bearing Waldi didn't come out until several years after the Olympics.

1972 Olympic Marathon

The marathon route in the 1972 Olympics was created to resemble the mascot, Waldi. The course was arranged so that the head of the dog faced west, with athletes running counter-clockwise, starting at the back of the dog's neck and continuing around the ears. The mouth of the dog was represented by the path through the Nymphenburg Park, and its front feet were represented by the run though the Hirschgarten. The belly was the main downtown street in Munich, and its rear feet, rear end and tail were all in the English Garden
English garden
The English garden, also called English landscape park , is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The...

, a parkland extending along the Isar River. The athletes continued along the back of the dog and entered the Olympic Stadium.

Legacy

During construction, the bill for the 1972 Olympics increased from the original estimate of $3.5 million to $63 million on the roof of the Olympic Stadium alone. The overall bill of $750 million, which was more than three times the amount Mexico spent on the 1968 games, resulted in unofficial posters of Waldi using the Olympic Tower as a Fire Hydrant.

To coincide with the Phaidon Press publication of the first monograph of Otl Aicher's work, an exhibition of his work on the 1972 Olympics was shown in London in 2007, including his work involving Waldi.

External links

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