13 Olympic Memes as Sochi Games Approach · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

As the Sochi Winter Olympics are fast approaching (the opening ceremony is this coming Saturday), RuNet Echo takes a look back at some of the funnier jokes that the Russian online community made about the logo, the torch, and other Olympic accouterments during the years of preparation for the games.
1. The logo itself has been the butt of various memes, the most ubiquitous of which is its pairing with a “saw” mascot, as a play on the verb “to saw,” a Russian slang term for “embezzlement.” This is, of course, contextualized amid years of accusations of wasteful spending and embezzled funds during the construction process:
The friendly embezzling saw. Anonymous image distributed online.
2. A more succinct joke comes at the expense of the easily parodied font:
“A f*cking shame” reads the modified Olympic logo. Anonymous image found online.
3. Another Olympic accusation of corruption — this is one on behalf of Russia's students:
“The Olympic flame burned your stipend” reads the caption of this alternative logo. Anonymous image found online.
4. A 2010 competition to design a mascot to go with the logo, organized by Russia's Olympic committee, resulted in several meme-worthy entrants. This one utilizes the ancient RuNet “Превед медвед” (“Preved medved”) meme. (This meme was at one point so widespread, it has its own KnowYourMeme entry.)
“Preved!” says the bear. Anonymous image distributed online.
5. Bears are an easy sell for Russian-hosted Olympics — ever since the lovable 1980 mascot. This entry into the 2010 contest uses the well known “Pedobear” meme:
Skiing-kuma. Anonymous image distributed online.
6. Fans of Lovecraft had their own approach:
Cthulhu for President (of the Olympics)! Anonymous image distributed online.
7. And fans of the classic Soviet kid's cartoon “Cheburashka,” their own (albeit similar):
Cheburashka fhtagn! Anonymous image found online.
8. The most popular entry (although it later turned out it was part of an astroturf campaign to raise contest popularity) was the Arctic hypno-toad nicknamed Zoich, created by cartoonist Egor Zhgun.
2014 sort of looks like ZOIЧ, a mix of English and Russian characters.
9. The mascots that were eventually selected, drew accusations of plagiarism both from Russia's last Olympics:
“Plagiarism is when you take someone else's thing and make it worse.” One of new mascots side by side with the 1980 Mishka the Bear. Anonymous image found online.
10. And from foreign Olympics:
“F*cking shameful,” reads the caption. Salt Lake Olympic mascots on the right. Anonymous image found online.
11. The Sochi Olympic torch relay, plagued as it was with the flame constantly going out [Global Voices report], also became the butt of jokes. Some pointed out its similarity to a Vodka logo:
“Russian” brand vodka looks suspiciously like the Olympic torch. Anonymous image found online.
12. Others noted the similarities between this bearded relay runner holds his torch, and the way Chechen guerrillas hold their guns:
Olympic terrorists. Anonymous image found online.
13. Perhaps the harshest meme of them all, this Olympic Bingo sheet has been translated from the Russian original by RuNet Echo. Various versions of the meme are widespread on Russian imageboards and forums. All deal with some form of failure on the part of the Russian hosts. This, folks, is Russian fatalism at its most depressed:
Anonymous image translated by RuNet Echo.
Russians are fond of self deprecation. Hopefully the 2014 Winter games will prove them wrong.