Battle Him, the Tiger Minister

Vladimir Putin speaking in favor
of the Leopard as the Sochi mascot

In the spirit of making the Olympic Games in Sochi a truly national event to unite the Russian people, the Sochi organizers last year launched a contest where artists could submit entries to be chosen as the official Olympic mascot, followed by internet voting and a final jury selection that was supposed to take into account the internet voting.

The Sochi 2014 logo