Misha

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This page is about the Olympic mascot. For the anime/manga character see Misha (Pita-ten)

Misha (Миша) is the name of the Russian Bear, the mascot of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games (the XXII Summer Olympics). He was designed by children's books illustrator Victor Chizhikov.

Misha is the first mascot of a sporting event to achieve large-scale commercial success as merchandise. The Misha doll was used extensively during the opening and closing ceremonies, had a TV animated cartoon and appeared on several merchandise products, now things commonly practiced not only in the Olympic Games, also in the FIFA World Cup and others events' mascots.

In Russian Misha is a diminutive for Mikhail. Misha, Mikhail, Mikhail Potapych are traditional Russian nicknames for a bear.

It also used to be the name of a very popular children's magazine which had subscribers all over the world.

[edit] See also

• Olympic mascot

[edit] External links

• Bear Cub Misha Lover's Association, Misha's fan page (in Japanese).
• Olympics' site, includes the 'Misha Song'