February 15, 2006


Olympic mascots of the 2006 Winter Games, Gliz and Neve.

AN IBC VALENTINE

The most famous couple at these Games is undoubtedly the mascots, Gliz and Neve.  Olympic mascots are generally adorable.  In Athens, we had Phevos and Athena, muppet-like figures with big feet.  They cracked me up continually with their antics at each venue.  Salt Lake’s mascots came from the woods – a snowshoe hare, Powder, a coyote, Copper, and a bear named Coal (he was my favorite).  The mascots of these Winter Games, conceived by Portuguese designer Pedro Albuquerque, have really gotten down to basics:  ice and snow.  The male mascot, Gliz (the blue one), is based on, well, an ice cube.  That’s why his head is, well, square.  Neve, the female, has lucked out with a rounder head, but not because she is smarter:  she is a snowball.

The first one that was really popular in the Winter Games was Schuss -- a little man on skis who unofficially represented the Grenoble Games back in 1968.  Mascots made their official debut in the Olympics in 1972, with Waldi – a dachshund.  My husband had a dachshund when he was growing up, so I’m always on the lookout for a Waldi pin when I’m at an Olympics.  So far no luck.  But I am lucky to have my husband here.  We don’t get to see each other much, if at all, but we’re used to it from past Olympic experiences.  After meeting in Sydney, we’ve been to Salt Lake, Athens, and now Torino together.  And while I didn’t see him on Valentine’s Day, he did manage to somehow send roses through the International Broadcast Center's security: a  gold medal move.


Dr. Amy Bass and her husband Evan on the NBC news set in Piazza San Carlo.