Roni (mascot)

Roni is the Olympic mascot of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, created by Don Moss. The mascot is a raccoon, which is a familiar animal from the mountainous region of the Adirondacks where Lake Placid is situated. The name Roni comes from the word racoon in Iroquoian, the language of the native people from the region of the State of New York and Lake Placid and was chosen by Lake Placid school children.[1]

Part of his face and the black-and-white mask around his eyes are a nod to the sunglasses and hat worn by competitors. There are different versions of Roni, practising different sports and the five colours of the Olympic rings can be found on some versions.[1]

Lake Placid had a living mascot, a raccoon called Rocky. After his death, just before the Games started, he was replaced by Roni.[1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Olympic Winter Games Mascots from Innsbruck 1976 to Sochi 2014 Olympic.org
Preceded by
Amik
Montréal 1976		 Olympic mascot
Roni
Lake Placid 1980 		Succeeded by
Misha
Moscow 1980


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