Entry 686 - London 2012: Wenlock

Wenlock and Mandeville are the official mascots for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics being held in London, United Kingdom.

The mascots were unveiled on 19 May 2010, this marks the second time (after Vancouver's Miga, Quatchi, Sumi and Mukmuk) that both Olympic and Paralympic mascots were unveiled at the same time. The mascots were created and designed by iris, a London-based creative agency. Wenlock and Mandeville are animations depicting two drops of steel from a steelworks in Bolton.

They are named after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock, which held a forerunner of the current Olympic Games, and Stoke Mandeville Hospital, a facility in Buckinghamshire that initially organised the Stoke Mandeville Games, the precursor of the Paralympic Games.

According to the associated (fictional) storyline, they were formed from the last girder of the Olympic Stadium. Their skins are made of highly polished steel allowing them to reflect the personalities and appearances of the people they meet. Their one eye is a camera and on their heads are yellow lights symbolizing those of a London Taxi.

Wenlock's name is inspired by Much Wenlock in Shropshire, England, where the Wenlock Olympian Society held its first Olympian Games in 1850, regarded as an inspiration for the modern Olympic games. He has five friendship bracelets on his wrist. Each bracelet takes the colour of an Olympic ring. The three points on his head represent the three places on the podium. The pattern on his body with the logo of the games symbolises the whole world coming to London in 2012. The shape on the front of his head represents the shape of the Olympic stadium roof. (Wikipedia)

So there you have it. This is what Wenlock is!