The Olympic mascots

The mascots for the London Olympics are called Wenlock and Mandeville. The name Wenlock comes from a small town in Shropshire called Much Wenlock where the Wenlock Olympian society organised their first games in 1850. It was here that Baron de Coubertin got the idea to create a global games event. Much Wenlock still hold their own games each July.

Mandeville is named after Stoke Mandeville Hospital which started their own games for injured soldiers in 1948 which became the forerunner of the paralympics.

The mascots are full of symbolism. They are supposed to have been created from the last two drops of steel that remained after constructing the Olympic stadium. The 3 points on Wemlock's head represent the 3 medals and the one eye is the lens of a camera recording everything that happens.

Here are a few Wenlocks I found around London

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Wimbledon Wenlock

Aquarium Wenlock

Arty Wenlock

This is a Beefeater Mandeville

I can't decide whether I like them or not. As one paper said 'cute or just creepy'. However they have been a huge success with schoolchildren who have embraced the technology that goes alongside the mascots including computer games etc so maybe it's a generation thing!