Photo shoot for Muppet Magazine issue 24.
The Olympic Games, or Olympics, are an international multi-sport event taking place every four years comprising of summer and winter games. Originally held in ancient Greece, they were revived by a French nobleman, Pierre Frèdy, Baron de Coubertin in the late 19th century. The Summer Olympics have been held every fourth year since 1896, except in 1916, 1940, and 1944 due to the World Wars.
A special edition for winter sports, the Olympic Winter Games, was first held in 1924. The first winter Olympics competitions were originally held as a non-Olympic sports festival, but were declared to be official Games by the International Olympic Committee in 1925. Originally these were held in the same year as the Summer Olympics, but since 1994 the Winter Games and the Summer Games have been held two years apart.
Appearances[]
Los Angeles 1984[]
The Muppets appeared in An Olympic Gala, the television special kicking off the games.
Nagano 1998[]
Animal was the mascot of the U.S. Snowboarding Team for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. This was the first year that snowboarding was recognized by the Olympics, and the team adopted Animal as their mascot. The drummer made a television appearance on CBS with reporter Kennedy, who stapled his feet to a snowboard, and a series of short promos written by Craig Shemin and Jim Lewis.[1]
The appearance was shot on Whistler Mountain outside of Vancouver, rather than Nagano, Japan where the Games were held, and included a segment that was omitted from CBS's broadcast. To demonstrate how a snowboarder might stop, Animal was shown to have crashed into a truck, a bathroom door, and a tree. Shortly after the material was shot, Sonny Bono was killed in a skiing accident, and the segment was left unaired.[2]
Vancouver 2010[]
The Coca-Cola Polar Bear made appearances at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
London 2012[]
"Elmo Should Go to the Olympics" (or, ElmOlympian) was a social media campaign by Sesame Workshop, launched on June 4, 2012, the social media blitz followed Elmo as he made preparations for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England. On June 7, 2012, Elmo appeared on Today to promote his cause.
Two new videos were released on July 23, the first announcing that Elmo would be joined by Abby and Grover at the Olympics, and the second with Elmo talking to Sarah Hughes. As of the second set of videos, the Facebook campaign page had been taken down, and text references to the Olympics were scrubbed from new videos.
Boxer Marcus Brown was featured in a third video. A USA Boxing representative said the segment was filmed in New York in mid-June, shortly after the USA Olympic boxing team was formally announced. Brown was recommended to producers, who were looking for New York-based Olympians.[3]
Tim Morehouse and Daryl Homer, two American fencers, discuss teamwork in another video. Morehouse met up with Elmo, Grover, and Abby at the Olympics itself, August 11, tweeting pictures of the encounter.
During their stay in London, Elmo, Abby and Grover appeared on Today (August 9), Milkshake! (August 10), and Rove Live (August 11).
Sochi 2014[]
To promote the release of Muppets Most Wanted, and to coincide with the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, the Muppets were featured in a series of TV spots and web videos themed around the Winter Olympics.
Additionally, a set of web videos supporting team Canada were released on Walt Disney Studio's Canadian YouTube channel featuring the Muppets.
with Scooter
with Scooter
PyeongChang 2018[]
The Sesame Street Muppets appeared with a variety of Olympians in advance of the 2018 Winter Olympics, in short spots for NBC:
- Cookie Monster talks about the sport of skeleton with Annie O'Shea and Matt Antoine, November 8 (video)
- Cookie Monster and Tucker West talk about the luge, November 9 (video)
- Cookie Monster with Maia and Alex Shibutani, November 22 (video)
- Elmo and Cookie Monster sing "The Olympic Song" with Olympians snowboarder Chloe Kim, figure skaters Nathan Chen and Karen Chen, and freestyle skiers David Wise and Gus Kenworthy. (YouTube)
Paris 2024[]
On June 6, 2024, Cookie Monster appeared on Today to announce that he and other Sesame Street characters would be part of NBC's coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics. Cookie Monster, Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Tango, and Rocco arrived in Paris on August 2 with another appearance on Today. Photos of Slimey's arrival were posted on August 6.
In the lead up to the Olympics, a series of illustrated images was posted to Sesame Street’s social media, depicting the characters participating in various events, such as swimming, track, and lighting the Olympic cauldron.
Over the course of the games, the Sesame Street characters met a number of Olympians, including gymnasts Jordan Chiles, Sunisa Lee, and Simone Biles; swimmers Carson Foster, Chris Guiliano, Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel, Bobby Finke, Ryan Murphy, Torri Huske, Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Regan Smith, and Simone Manuel; fencers Lauren Scruggs and Lee Kiefer; and the US men's four rowing team (Liam Corrigan, Michael Grady, Justin Best, and Nick Mead).
References[]
The Ojo-lympics
- In Episode 0116 of Sesame Street, Oscar claims to have sneakers from the Olympics.
- In 1995, Sesame Street spoofed the Olympics in Episode 3300, in which Slimey, Oscar the Grouch's pet worm, competed in the Worm Summer Games. The material was later reused in the video Slimey's World Games. The story was also adapted into a 1995 coloring book, The Sesame Street Games.
- Sesame Street also spoofed the Winter Olympics in episode 3061 with the Worm Winter Games, which were held in Squggleville, France.
- The Olympics have also been spoofed in Muppet Magazine issues 21 and 24.
- In 1992, Good Morning America featured many Muppet skits. In one skit, "The Muppet Games", Louis Kazagger reported on the Geek Winter Games (a much cheaper alternative to the Winter Olympics), where founding geek Gonzo demonstrates demolition speed skating.
- Oscar's trash can contains an Olympic-size swimming pool.
- In "The Ojolympics," from Bear in the Big Blue House, Ojo created her own Olympic Games called The Ojolympics. This story was also made available as a book.
- Four Winter Olympics pins featuring Animal were released for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, that were also available at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
- In January of 2006, Kermit the Frog visited the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, built for the 1936 Summer Olympics, to promote his Adidas Adicolor line of sports apparel. He took a brief, bare-flippered jog on the freezing cold track.
- A week of Plaza Sésamo episodes in 2006 parodied the Olympic Games with the "Plaza Olimpiadas", even making a variation of the Olympics logo.
- In The Muppets episode "Little Green Lie", Piggy says she'll always be on TV for Robin, unless it's a rerun or the summer Olympics are on.
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Connections[]
.jpg "Gus Kenworthy & Elmo (2017).jpg (91 KB)")
Sources[]
- ↑ Craig Shemin on Facebook 0:57 video February 22, 2018
- ↑ Craig Shemin on Facebook 2:02 video February 22, 2018
- ↑ Stephen Hart, "Staten Island's Marcus Browne meets Elmo from 'Sesame Street'", Staten Island Advance, August 3, 2012.