When they picked a mascot for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, they chose an eagle. The United States, eagle — it made sense. Likewise, a dachshund for Munich in 1972, a bear for Moscow in 1980 and a panda for Beijing in 2022.
The mascot for the 2026 Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, is a stoat. You may have seen Olympians holding stuffed versions of them on the medal stand.
What is a stoat?
A stoat is a relative of the weasel with sharp teeth. Its coat changes dramatically from brown in summer to white in winter. (That white fur is known as ermine.) Found throughout Europe, Asia and North America, the stoat ranges from six inches to a foot in length.
The humble stoat does not make a lot of news, though it has gained some notoriety. But not in Italy — in New Zealand. You see, stoats were introduced there in the 19th century to control rabbits, but now the animal causes havoc to many other native species, prompting efforts to keep it at bay.
Times readers are much more likely to encounter the stoat elsewhere, namely the Crossword, where it is valued because its name is short and consists of common letters. (See Dec. 28, 2025: “Cousin of a mink”; Aug. 8: “Eurasian ermine”; May 27: “Animal with chestnut-and-white fur”; and many others.)
Why a stoat?
A group of Italian students made the first design for the stoat, which then won a public poll to choose the mascot for the Games, which opened last Friday.
Does this stoat have a name?
Tina, short for Cortina. The mascot for the Paralympic Games, which follow in March, is a fellow stoat named Milo, for Milan. They are siblings. You can tell them apart by their color (Tina is white and Milo brown). And as the Paralympics representative, Milo is missing a paw and uses his tail to help him walk.
“Tina is passionate about art and music, and she believes in the power of beauty,” the organizers of the Games claim. “Nature is her home, and even though she now lives in the city, she does everything she can to protect it and keep it untouched.”
Together, Tina and Milo “represent the contemporary, vibrant and dynamic Italian Spirit.” Or so it is said. Stuffed versions of Tina are being handed out with medals at the Games, but it’s unclear if the athletes will treasure it as much as the gold, silver or bronze they worked practically all their lives for.
The organizers have also named some second-tier mascots — six snowdrop flowers, known collectively as “the Flo,” who are reputedly troublemakers. But in an impish, lovable way, one supposes.
When did this Olympic mascot thing start?
As far as we know, the ancient Greek Games did not have a costumed satyr or Minotaur cavorting about the Panathenaic Stadium.
But the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics had Smoky the dog — not a costumed caperer but a real black dog. Other mascots were Amik the beaver (Montreal, 1976), Hodori the Siberian tiger (Seoul, 1988) and Miraitowa the robot (Tokyo, 2021).
The stoat must be the strangest Olympic mascot ever.
Not so fast.
At the last Olympics, in Paris in 2024, the mascot was … a hat. To be specific, a Phrygian cap, a soft red hat associated with the French Revolution. The last time the Games were in Italy, in Turin in 2006, the mascots were a snowball named Neve and an ice cube named Gliz.
But the most notorious mascot probably remains the much-loathed Izzy from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, a blue face with protruding arms and legs, and lightning bolts for eyebrows. It drew derision from the day it was announced. The sportscaster Bob Costas called it “a genetic experiment gone horribly, ghastly wrong.”
In contrast, a skating, skiing, smiling stoat seems normal.
Victor Mather, who has been a reporter and editor at The Times for 25 years, covers sports and breaking news.
The post The Winter Olympics Mascot Is a Stoat. A What? appeared first on New York Times.
