See also: List of Olympic mascots. Each Paralympic Games have a mascot, usually an animal native to the area or occasionally human figures representing the cultural heritage. Nowadays, most of the merchandise aimed at young people focuses on the mascots, rather than the Paralympic flag or organization logos.
Noggi and Joggi, the mascots of the 1980 Summer Paralympics in Arnhem, The Netherlands are possibly the first Paralympic mascots. But since the Gomdoori in the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul, South Korea, the Paralympic mascots has been associated with its Olympic counterparts.
| Paralympics | City | Name | Species | Designer | Significance | Picture |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noggi and Joggi | a pair of squirrels | Necky Oprinsen | Possibly the first Paralympic mascots when those Games were still called the World Disabled Games. | |||
| Dan D. Lion | a lion who wore running shoes and a jogging outfit. | Maryanne McGrath Higgins | The name was chosen following a vote by students at a school for students with severe physical impairments.[1] | |||
| the "Gomdoori" | two Asian black bears | Lee Yun Soo | The Gomdoori (Korean for "teddy bears") were the Paralympic mascots for Seoul 1988. The bears are tied together to symbolize cooperation.[2] | |||
| a mountain on a mono-ski | Vincent Thiebaut | Represented the summit of the Grande Motte mountain in Tignes. Colors were white, green and blue, to represent nature and the lake. | ||||
| a stylized armless girl | Depicted as an honest, diplomatic, energetic, impatient and brave girl. As the first Paralympic mascot with disability, the design was based as friend of Mariscal, the Chilean-German artist Lorenza Böttner, like her, she has no arms, which symbolizes that she does not possess any weapons, and represents peace and harmony. | |||||
| troll, with an amputation | Tor Lindrupsen and Janne Solem | The name was chosen in a competition and derives from the great skiing pioneer Sondre Nordheim. | ||||
| Trevor Irvin | The phoenix is the symbol of the city of Atlanta. | |||||
| a white rabbit (1 red & 1 green ear)[3] | A competition was held among students to find a name for the 1998 Winter Paralympic mascot, and the designation "Parabbit" was chosen from among 3,408 different entries. | |||||
| Steve Small, Landor Associates and Publicis | The otter was chosen because of its quickness and liveliness.[4] | |||||
| Spyros Gogos | Named after the mythologic sea-god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, Proteus. From the myth also comes their name, as a feature of Proteus comes the adjective protean, with the general meaning of "versatile", "mutable", "capable of assuming many forms". "Protean" has positive connotations of flexibility, versatility and adaptability. | |||||
| Pedro Albuquerque | Aster the snowflake represents the uniqueness of each participating athlete.[5] | |||||
| 2008 Summer Paralympics | multi-coloured cow | Wu GuanYing | Represents a harmonious co-existence between mankind and nature, it represents athletes with a disability striving to make progress, and it represents the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Summer Games' concept of "Transcendence, Equality and Integration." | |||
| a hybrid and mythical creature | Meomi Design (a group of Vicki Wong and Michael Murphy) | With wings of a Thunderbird, legs of an American black bear, and a hat of a killer whale in an artistic style of Haida people, he pays homage to Canadian legends. | ||||
| Not an official mascot, but the designated "sidekick". | ||||||
| Mandeville[6] | one eyed, drop of steel, painted blue by the rainbow | Iris[7] | Named after the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire. | |||
| a ray of light and a snowflake | Natalia Balashova and Anna Zhilinsky | Ray of Light came from a different planet that was perpetually hot, while Snowflake hailed from a planet that was perpetually cold. | ||||
| An hybrid plant made of all Brazilian plants | Luciana Eguti and Paulo Muppet[8] | Inspired by the diversity of the Brazilian flora. Named after the local musician Tom Jobim decided by popular vote. | ||||
| MASS C&G | The chosen of the bear is relative to the mascots of the 1988 Summer Paralympics. And the Bear was also symbolic of strongness and courage. Its name is also formed from two Korean words: bandal (반달) and bi (비), meaning "half-moon" to refer to the white crescent on an Asiatic black bear's chest and the latter connoting commemoration to celebrate the games. | 120px | ||||
| A Robot creature with pink chequered patterns from official emblem and cherry blossom flowers | Ryo Taniguchi[9] | The Paralympic mascot was chosen from several designs submitted by schoolchildren and illustrators throughout Japan. It is still popular after the games and still appears in events today.[10] | ||||
| A Chinese lantern child | Jiang Yufan | Designed with Chinese New Year lanterns as the prototype.As the games were held during the Chinese New Year,the Lanterns represent harvest, celebration, warmth and light. The wishful shape at the top symbolizes auspicious happiness; the continuous pattern of the dove of peace and the Temple of Heaven symbolizes the peaceful friendship and highlights the characteristics of the place where the place is held; the decorative pattern incorporates the traditional Chinese paper-cut art; the snow on the face represents the meaning of "a fall of seasonable snow gives promise of a fruitful year". It also reflects the anthropomorphic design and highlights the mascot's cuteness. | ||||
| The Paralympic Phryge[11] | Gilles Deleris | An anthropomorphic Phrygian Cap based on the one Marianne wore at the time of the French Revolution. Also the first Paralympic mascot since the 1994 Winter Paralympics with an obvious disability with a prosthetic left leg. Revealed on 14 November 2022 | ||||
| Milo[12] | Students of the Istituto Comprensivo of Taverna in Calabria | Derived from Milan, one of the two host cities. Born without a back right paw, he uses his tail to overcome obstacles | ||||
| Will be unveiled in late 2025 or early 2026 | TBA | TBA | ||||
| Will be unveiled in late 2028 | TBA | TBA | ||||
| Will be unveiled in late 2030 | TBA | TBA | ||||