2024 Olympic Games in Paris mascot: What is a Phryge and how is it pronounced?
What is the mascot of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and how is it pronounced? Let’s take a dip into history
The 2024 Paris Olympics mascot was unveiled on Monday, and everything about it is so French.
“La Phryge Olympique” — and “La Phryge Paralympique,” is quite simply the red bonnet famously worn by Marianne, the artistic personification of the free French republic.
Present in art, in town halls and on stamps, the Phrygian caps were worn as a symbol of liberty during the French and the American Revolutions, and are known all over the world.
Not only does the mascot represent freedom, striving, and the spirit of the French, but it also sends a powerful message: that all athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics are the same thing: athletes- despite differing appearances and events.
The Paralympic mascot is no different than the Olympic one, except that one of the legs is a runner’s blade.
Related: 2024 Olympic Games in Paris announces new mascots: red hats with eyes and legs
How is ‘Phryge’ pronounced?
The official IOC website explains that the mascot’s name is to be pronounced “fri-jee-uhs”. As our very own Jeffrey May put it, it’s like saying “fridge” like refrigerator, with a long E and an “uh”.
Phry-gi-a
Julie Matikhine, brand manager of the Paris 2024 Games, says, “[Phyrges] is a mascot who embodies the French spirit. An ideal that carries the values of our country, a part of our history and a singular point of view on the world.”
What screams ‘French’ more than that?