Paris 2024 Mascot = Chapeau du Papa Smurf

With about 620 days, seven hours and 53 minutes until the next opening ceremony, Paris 2024 officials today unveiled the upcoming Games mascots, and they are Smurf hats!

Named "The Phryges" (free-ges), the mascots for the current Olympiad are red conical caps with a bit of history and eyes/eyelashes reminiscent of ribboned-pins or Games medals. 

Just after 5 a.m. ET, organizing committee President Tony Estanguet joined athletes and assembled media to unveil Les Phryges, the Olympic and Paralympic mascots named for the historic hats donned throughout many centuries. 

Like Cobi for the Barcelona Games of 1992, it already appears Les Phryges are ready to hit the town "like any other citizen" (words used by Javier Mariscal to describe the earlier European mascot). 

In the moments describing the inspiration for the mascots, designers illustrated their work while displaying the famous personification of liberty Marianne (artfully depicted as the Paris 2024 logo) in the famous Eugene Delacroix painting "Liberty Leading the People" on view in the Louvre. 

According to the mascot press kit, "At Paris 2024, we wanted mascots that would embody our vision and be able to share it with the French people and around the world -- rather than an animal, our mascots represent an ideal [that] also represents French identity and spirit."

"A huge tribe of little Phrygian caps called THE PHRYGES is arriving!" with "Their mission: To lead a revolution through sport."

The reveal showcased a pair of Phryges, each with human-like legs and feet, with one representing Olympians and the other, donning a prosthetic blade leg, Paralympians. Please scroll to the fresh video posted by France 24 at the base of this post. The mascot duo marks a five-ringed first in that, like the logo for Paris 2024, the mascots are now the same and somewhat interchangeable for both Paralympic and Olympic use. 

During the press conference Q&A, I asked how many team members contributed to the design and the duration (in months or years) of their work. 

Though not one word of their French reply made sense to this writer, according to press materials the team spent more than a year in conversation and concept development. 

Scribing the experience here, I have to admit the design is appealing to me and the creative team scores an A+ for their thoughtful explanation, which should also resonate with children. Going into the announcement it seemed possible a human mascot might return, given the sneaker-clad feet showcased with teaser videos and GIFs. A youthful founder Pierre de Coubertin or "Coubie" (another nod to Barcelona '92) crossed my mind as an option. A friend suggested a "baguette named Pierre" was a concerning prospect. 

For this writer, the potential for the red hats and their French takeover seems sans fin. 

The mascots' detailed back-story is impressive. They've already published as a youth coloring book and within an hour of today's announcement Paris 2024 introduced an array of merchandise including pins (see image below) revealed in-step with the overall concept rollout. Anyone may already purchase mascot swag online. 

With that stated, in the instant of the reveal my brain did go to Papa Smurf, the patriarch of the cartoon characters who wore the only rouge cap of the bunch. 

What does the mascot mean to you? What do you loathe or like most about it? Please comment and share. 

Images via Paris 2024, the Louvre and Fandom's Smurgs Anon page