The mascot was about to become the symbol of Russia to the whole world as well as the symbol of a whole epoch to the people of Russia. Many people still remember the Olympic Mishka (Russian: Олимпийский Мишка) - Russian Bear mascot of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games (the XXII Summer Olympics). It was designed by children's books illustrator Victor Chizhikov.
On 26th of February 2011, during the voting in Moscow, Russia, characters with maximum number of votes have been chosen as the official Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games symbols. It was the Hare, Polar Bear and Leopard. Three mascots will represent the three places on the podium. The Ray of Light and the Snowflake have been chosen as the Paralympic Winter Games mascots in 2014. The honour of selecting the Paralympic Winter Games mascot was given to the Paralympic champions.
Dmitry Chernyshenko - President and Chief Executive Officer of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee - was enthusiastically commenting the results of the live vote. He said that the mascots are the choice of the whole country and will remain in the history of the Olympic movement.
