Olympic Games

Muppet Magazine issue #24

Julianne McNamara and the Muppets.

Mitch Gaylord and Kermit.

Animal, official mascot of the 1998 U.S. Snowboarding Team.

The Olympic Games, or Olympics, are an international multi-sport event taking place every four years and comprising 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.

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 also made a television appearance in Nagano with CBS reporter Kennedy, who stapled his feet to a snowboard.

Appearances

• The Coca-Cola Polar Bear made appearances at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

References

• 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.

• 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", Lewis 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 Olympiadas", even making a variation of the Olympics logo.

The Worm Winter Games

Connections

• Amanda Beard appeared with Miss Piggy, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, and Beaker at the 2008 ESPY awards.

• Dominique Dawes has appeared on Sesame Street and is part of the advisory board for Sesame Workshop's "Healthy Habits for Life."

• Mitch Gaylord has appeared in Muppet Magazine

• Magic Johnson appeared with Kermit to launch the Ford E85 Escape Hybrid.

• Greg Louganis appeared in both Muppet Magazine and Sesame Street Magazine

• Julianne McNamara appeared in Muppet Magazine

• Michael Stich has appeared on Sesamstrasse

• Picabo Street appeared on Sesame Street.

• Rosalynn Sumners has appeared in Muppet Magazine

• Kristi Yamaguchi has contributed for In the Kitchen with Miss Piggy