Paris in biological faux pas over 2024 Olympic mascot
WHEN Paris unveiled its mascot for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, the Phryge, it said the red triangular ambassador for the Games was a nod to the French Revolution, a “symbol of freedom” that would “show the world that sport can change everything”.
Organisers said the figures with tricolour ribbons were based on the Phrygian cap that has come to embody the French Republic’s values and is worn by the iconic French figure of Marianne in town halls all over the country.
However, many French commentators felt it bore more resemblance to a female organ. Mathilde Meslin, a French journalist, said: “We’re all in agreement it’s not a Phrygian cap at all but a full-blown clitoris?”
Another female online commentator responded: “Thank you that was my first reaction. Now I feel less alone.”
Guillaume Erner, another journalist, referred to the mascot as “the Olympic clitoris” on the state radio station France Culture.
He joked: “This is a first ... it’s excellent news for female pleasure and the world’s general education. Nobody can now say with impunity that the clitoris is the latest Toyota model.”
Unfazed, Tony Estanguet, the Paris 2024 president, said the mascot was a breath of fresh air as “we chose an ideal rather than an animal”. Yesterday, Emmanuel Macron’s government was not amused to learn that the mascots are being made in China. The two French firms in charge of making two million mascots are basing at least 80 per cent of production in China, with 8 per cent made in France. Christophe Béchu, the French environment minister, told France Info that “at a time when we are explaining that we need local distribution channels and need to restore local production, we can’t find ourselves making mascots at the other side of the world”.
The Olympic committee said that “the vast majority of cuddly toys sold in France” come from China.