The Olympic Logos Through the Years

After the Americans showed the world who's the Boss in the 2012 London Olympics, 2nd and 3rd placers, People's Republic of China and Great Britain, respectively, are reportedly working hard (expanding their athlete's training hours till dawn) to get even in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Speaking of Rio, I really liked the logo. Minimalist, very clean, and very Brazilian. This is a huge relief from the ugly affair that is the London 2012 logo (see below). Let's take a ride on memory lane and dissect design culprits and applaud the innovators:

1. Los Angeles 1984

Verdict: 

This should've been called the Las Vegas Olympics. The star symbol may justify USA's flag, but this sort of star (a moving or dancing star at first glance) looks like what you'll see during a night stroll in Las Vegas theater or casino clubs.

2. Seoul 1988

Verdict: 

I'm not that good at Yin-Yang calculations, but this design speaks more of a North Korean warning: The Red swirling line triggers that warning message, right?. This doesn't come as appealing in terms of "friendliness" the Olympics signifies. For me, it's like, "You come in Korea, but be very careful." Yikes! 

3. Barcelona 1992

Verdict: 

Simple yet brilliant. Remember the Galleon Trade the Spaniards practiced? They are also very good ocean navigators, and this Logo just showed that. Kudos!

4. Atlanta 1996

Verdict: 

I'm not sure but why not stick with the standard white background? This would've looked powerful in white. This comes to me as a Yule Tide card than of an Olympic symbol (What the hell were they thinking?). This looked poorly conceptualized.

5. Sydney 2000

Verdict: 

Now, this is what I call perfection. The Sydney Opera House waved as a flag by an Aussie with the lower part drawn in an optical illusion of a feet and a red fish tail (dunno the name of the fish). Cool, inviting, and pleasant to the eyes.

6. Athens 2004

Verdict:

This logo speaks of the great city of Gods. The blue deep sea, the (what's the name of the plant again?) and the ATHENS 2004 written in Blue. Seeing this made me think of a perfect getaway in the sea.

7. Beijing 2008

Verdict:

Reading martial arts, what nation comes into your mind first? Yep, it's Chinese, and this Beijing Olympics logo is near perfect in terms of reflecting that cultural influence all over the world. Seeing previous Olympic openings, I can say that so far, the Chinese has delivered the greatest show on Earth (less the lip-synch scandal).

8. London 2012

Verdict:

You know the feeling of beauty-collapses-before-your-very-eyes? This is what I felt seeing this logo for the first time. While the organizers said, "It's powerful and modern", to me it was a disaster, hideous, and out of control. The sign is supposed to spell 2012 but to my eyes it's ZION.

Elke the Stallion and Her Big Ass

I was Google-ing my way 'round the net for beautiful animal pictures for a new wallpaper and Stallions came into my A-List of Keyword to use...But instead of a horse-like creature, this THING went goggling into my screen. 

I was in disbelief, I thought this should be one of those photoshop sessions gone amok, but searching further, I found out that it was genuine, and it can't be true, DAMN! 44 inches Ass? No Sh*t! Just look at the pictures...

WARNING: FIDGETING IS ILLEGAL, Meet Elke The Stallion (Model)

Continuation: "The Barbaric Episode"

Look, I am not bashing bottom-gifted creatures like Elke but to my conservative and innocent mind, this is just plain wrong, a systems loss, an overcooked pastry...I mean look at these:(Clicking the image may result to permanent Ass-Consciousness Syndrome).

About the 3rd image: The two guys looked really unsure of the situation...

How China's Bird's Nest Won the West

Being the Host for the 2008 Olympics, China obviously stretched its limits to showcase a world class, state-of-the-art, and surprisingly, wicked venues for the event. What caught my attention the most was the center piece; The Bird's Nest.
As an architecture enthusiast, the design simply blew me away. It was simple yet gallant. Depicting the Balance between the Old and modern China couldn't be more accurate than a Bird's Nest design for a stadium. But did you know that it had to beat 12 other contenders for this piece of land?

Here are the Brutally Insane Designs that battled through the Wire of the Olympics:
1. B1

Emerging from the landscape, and shaped by nature, the design will create a simple symbolic link - a bridge - between old and new, between people and country and China with the world.

It looked very futuristic and nowhere in China's cultural touches had (It reminded me of the Spaceship in Back to the Future).

2. B2

The design creates an image of a floating water lilly, surrounded by petals and blossoms, emerging in a gently undulating pond.

Quite good but not that spectacular (something's missing and the judges felt that too).

3. B3

The structures of the petals are basic stable arch forms that are structurally efficient and have been used in manmade structures since before the classical periods. Yet the sheer spans, movement, elegance and lightness to be achieved in these arches will reflect our ever-increasing understanding of the science and technology around us.

Sorry but this closely resembles to Sydney's Opera House...

4. B4

The Olympic Stadium, 79,574 fixed seats are installed on the stand, of which ordinary seats are 72,930 with 500mm width of seats and 850mm depth of rows. If it is needed, temporary stands with 20,740 seats could be added in both the south and the north stands.

Yep, we've seen the math but where's the elemental touch that is China?

5. B5

The east canopy roof is a cantilevered truss structure that acts both as a fixed roof covering for the East Side of the stadium and as a support for the leading edge of the retractable roof in the closed position.

Complicated design: A big NO for the Chinese culture.

6. B6

One of the most unique features of the design is the Sky Terrace. The ability to climb to very top of the roof will provide an experience to the visitor unlike that of any other stadium on Earth. Looked more Japanese than Chinese (and this will highlight the confusion of who's who between the two). 

Canadian Envoy: Are you sure we're in China?

7. B7

The sun-facing surface(s) of the retractable roof will be covered with rows of the latest type of photovoltaic cells, one of the largest installations of its kind in the world. The proposed design will be one of the major legacies of the ‘Green Olympics’.

Cool in the eye but looks more European at the first glance (Egyptian in the second).

8. B8

The configuration of the stadium symbolizes great nature on the earth. Against the backdrop of sunshiny sky, soft white cloud and green hills are the main originality, along with light pillar that penetrates through white cloud creating nice association.

After the Bird's Nest, this will be likely my bet for approval.

9. B9

The National Stadium should be the one that a surrounding feeling is available when someone stays inside of the stadium, he feels that he is surrounded by the environment outside of the stadium. Vice versa, when he stays outside of the stadium he could also feel such a state of competition with excitement and vigor inside of the stadium. 

Oddly enough, I'm seeing Egypt here (don't know why).

10. B10

This proposal is intended to meet these objectives using the symbols of "Heaven" and "Earth". This vault incorporates five circles that, at the same time, symbolize the five elements on which Chinese philosophy is based, and the five Olympic rings.Seen from below, One will feel a humongous Ray just swam up the sky. 

Unfortunately, it's not that popular in this country.

11. B11
The stadium’s appearance is pure structure. The structural elements mutually support each other and converge into a grid-like formation – almost like a bird's nest with its interwoven twigs. 

The spatial effect of the stadium is novel and radical and yet simple and of an almost archaic immediacy, thus creating a unique historical landmark for the Olympics 2008.

12. B12
The design concept is retrieved from an ancient ritual named "throwing jade into the water", which gives the Stadium rich cultural connotation and turns the place into a spiritual home of people living in a modern city.

Yep, Maybe in Star Wars Era...


13. B13
The Stadium is the Architecture as the eaves, and it protects as many as a hundred thousand people in the periphery from the rains, cold wind of winter, and hot sunshine of summer. The Stadium is the symbol of the attitude greeting all the people. 

Yeah well, but looks really energy-consuming hell for Beijing Power Corp.