Well, the official Paris 2024 mascot has been unveiled. And, it sure is a different take, as it is a 'living' embodiment of a traditional 'liberty' symbol from throughout French history...the Phrygian cap.

It certainly is French! And, the Phyrges are a "nod to the revolutionary spirit" Paris 2024 wants to install in the Games, according to the organizing committee's Tony Estanguet.

Of course, there is a colorful characterization story as well. From Paris 2024 regarding the Olympic Phryge: "Always thoughtful and an astute strategist, she embarks on adventures only after carefully weighing up all of the pros and cons. Just like the Olympic athletes, she knows the importance of measuring all the various parameters to achieve her goals."

Earlier thoughts that Paris 2024 might go in such a unique direction proved well-founded. The Olympic Phryge and Paralympic Phyrge join London 2012's Wenlock and Mandeville and Atlanta 1996's Izzy as departures from typical animal-based mascots.

​What do you think?

All the previous 13 Summer Olympics since Munich 1972 have had at least one official mascot, helping to market the Games through personality and fun, while bringing in additional revenue opportunities through licensed paraphernalia.

There's been lots of talk recently in Olympic circles regarding the sports program for Los Angeles 2028 and beyond. Between existing Olympic sports boxing, weightlifting, and modern pentathlon facing potential expulsion, if you will, and the invitation from LA28 to other select sports for consideration, there's been plenty to ponder.

​That LA28 invitation went to nine governing bodies: breaking (which is set for Paris 2024 inclusion), baseball & softball and karate (both of which were unfortunately dropped after Tokyo 2020), squash, flag football, lacrosse, cricket, kickboxing, and motorsports.

​The latter of that list - motorsports is a possible watershed moment on the Olympic program, as it was only in 2012 that the IOC removed from its charter reference to not including any sports where motorization was a key element. 

Flag football would seem a stretch to this rather traditionalist, but there has been world championship events since 2002, and a way for 'American football' to receive a foothold into the Games. But I never thought I'd see breaking in the Games, either. We'll see what develops after these nine sports make their cases later this month. Current guidelines call for an overall athlete cap of 10,500 plus a global youth appeal, limited operation complexity, and sustainable environmental impact.

I know, not every sport can (or should) be in the Games. But in the meantime, though, below are my thoughts on the top ten sports or sport disciplines that I'd like to see make it into a Summer Olympic program. Or at least brought back as a demonstration sport!

What do you think should be in the Games? Let me know in the comments.

And check out my thoughts on recommended new Winter Olympic sports, too.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach visits Ukraine's president Volodomyr Zelenskyy and its embattled athletes at the nation's Olympic Training Center.

​"It is time for all sports to ban Russian athletes until the war is over." Skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych doubles down in his support for Ukraine as the war continues.

​Sydney 2000 gymnastics medalist Ruslan Mezentsev auctions off his silver medal to help fund protective equipment at home in Ukraine during the war.

What motivates Lesia Tsurneko to keep playing professional tennis? The money she can send home as support during the war against Ukraine.

​More Ukrainian tennis: Tokyo 2020 medalist Elina Svitolina 'feels the weight of war'.

Tennis player Marie Bouzkova's Wimbledon quarterfinal run came after a difficult Covid-19 bout just a month earlier.

Is Beijing 2022 ice hockey silver medalist Ivan Fedotov a military dodger?

Daniela Fonseca returned Cuba to women's Olympic table tennis at Tokyo 2020...does she have another Games in her future? (ITTF Magazine page 72)

Is figure skating great Yuzuru Hanyu not retired?

Olympic gymnastics champion Sunisa Lee returns to Team USA training camp with an eye to an international return.

Beijing 2008 soccer player Sacha Kljestan has some words on gun violence in the U.S.

NCAA sprint star Abby Steiner sets a record for sponsorship for a female collegiate athlete.

Long jumper Quanesha Burkes has a mission as she looks to her next appearance with Team USA: "Now it's time to get medals".

London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius works toward an early parole release with a meeting with his victim's father.

How much will a recent Covid-19 bout affect Olympic sprinting star Andre de Grasses's World Championship status?

Is middle-distance -turned-long-distance runner Caster Semenya "the greatest that has ever done it"?

'Perfection is a place that must remain out of reach.' Shot put star Ryan Crouser chases it regardless.

​Meanwhile, fellow shot putter Raven Saunders takes a break from the rest of the season.

Discus thrower Nicholas Percy is 'ecstatic' for the 'bonus' of making Team Great Britain's world championship squad this summer.

Runner Sara Carcinelli leads a team from the Vatican (!) to an appearance at the Mediterranean Games.

Speaking of small states...Shannon Galea is the latest feature on the Keep the Flame Alive podcast, discussing her journey as a skeleton athlete for Malta.

Need a feel-good moment? Francisca Tala of Team Chile scores a special goal at the women's field hockey World Cup.

Well, count Cedric Chatellier as one modern pentathlete open to the proposed changes to the sport.

Swimmer Octavio Alesi and fencer Cody Mattern are just two athletes leveraging Los Angeles 2028's Athlete Fellowship Program to gain hands-on work experience.

United World Wrestling: What makes Amir Yazdani Olympic wrestling's next big superstar?

Denise Herrmann reflects on her 'perfect Olympic day' with BiathlonWorld.

"I'm terrified I might be here forever." Basketball star Brittney Griner writes from Russian jail.

Is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the 'key to Canada's basketball renaissance'?

Six-time Olympic luge champion Natalie Geisenberger now 'wants to concentrate fully on her family'.

Count Team France star Allison Pineau as not a fan of Paris 2024's scheduling plans for team handball.

Total Olympics (2021)
A Quick Book Review

I'm so glad to have found - belatedly - Jeremy Fuchs' 2020 publication "Total Olympics", a compilation of 'Every Obscure, Hilarious, Dramatic, and Inspiring Tale Worth Knowing', as its subtitle aptly puts it. Although it was published in advance of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, I only recently made it through - call it my own Olympic postponement!

As an ardent Olympics fan, I'll eat up all the facts and fun anecdotes I can find. And, Total Olympics is in a sense an homage to the spirit of David Wallechinsky's The Complete Book of the Olympics, long the standard of Olympic encyclopedia. For those missing The Complete Book since the last edition ahead of Sochi 2014, Fuchs' work is a good introduction to the broad spectrum of rich stories that the Games provide.

Many of the tales in Total Olympics​ will be familiar to those deeply experienced with Olympic history, but Fuchs does offer moments of unique perspective, particularly in his division of certain chapters by Olympian siblings, Olympic 'firsts', Olympic criminals, or Eastern Bloc athletes, for example.

And, of course, reporting of post-2014 Olympic facts takes us further than Wallechinsky had. Witness Bode Miller's unfortunate turn at commentating and Manteo Mitchell's broken leg exploits.

Although, certain retrospectives of older Olympians and moments were revelations, too. Some particular 'new', deeper insights for me included gymnastics legend Laryssa Latynina's proud and dominant personality, the depth of Denver 1976's ineptitude (those Games were moved to Innsbruck), the resilience of gymnast Agnes Keleti, rower Henry Pearce's face-ff with a family of ducks in 1928, Lamine Gueye's breakthrough skiing, equestrian Humberto Mariles' 'colorful' post-Games career, the drive of Melbourne 1956 champion Tom Courtney, and the fact that skijoring was a one-time demonstration sport.

Notable ancient Olympians - Herodotus, Leonidas, etc. - and Paralympians  - particularly Trischa Zorn and Marlon Shirley - get proper recognition, too, which is a feature not found in cursory Olympic research, including Wallechinsky's work.

But the real pleasure for me was a sense of kindred spirit of fandom that is the crux of Total Olympics. The perseverance of Team USA's debut women's swim team at Antwerp 1920 - "but they persisted..." - and the everlasting dignity of discus thrower Al Oerter - "There is something about the Games that gets in your blood. All those people from those various nations, all with the same purpose...I can really get charged up about the Olympics" - showcase the excitement and emotion of the Olympics. Thanks, Total Olympics - I'll visit and revisit those stories always.

CBS News' recent 60 Minutes profile of Chinese dissident artist Badiucao gave mention to his new work highlighting China's role as next month's Winter Olympics host in Beijing. A political satirist since 2011 now in exile, Badiucao looks to target his home government through provocative and searing street art and cartoons. And his new pieces debuted this past fall certainly strike into the rich territory of human rights abuses and authoritarian control that critics of the upcoming Olympic host have broadcast.

Badiucao has now also announced his Olympic-inspired art available as "open edition NFTs" (non-fungible tokens)​ beginning February 1, just days before the Games officially begin. This way, his art will be a "public decentralized record of protest", broadening his reach and the ability for global comment.

While this NFT experiment is certainly a modern moment of today's times, the idea of street art or cartoons used to target the Olympics is not. Of course, the global phenomenon that is the Games, carrying the global audience, expense, and self-purported lofty goals of unity, is always bound to attract scrutiny.

Typically, protest art has mined the issues of potential environmental destruction, the exploding expenses, the "sports-washing" of host abuses, or bloated infrastructure. At times, hosts even seem to too readily open themselves up...the militarization against student activists just ahead of Mexico City 1968 and the razing of favelas to clean up Rio 2016's image were tailor-made for artistic objection.

Beyond those usual issues, the current Covid-19 pandemic opened up a new concern for activists. In Tokyo, a local magazine parodied Tokyo 2020's staging with an Olympic emblem-inspired mock-up with a pandemic twist. Naturally, it was not well-received in Olympic circles.

In his PhD research, USC professor Henry Jenkins delves deep into some of the history of Olympic protest art, commenting that "anti-Olympic art puts a spotlight on those who are excluded from the sports event and caught up in large processes of exclusion related to the Olympics". Check out his excellent collection of protest imagery on Flickr.

The Olympics can be problematic. I get it - too big, too lofty, too expensive, too ripe for authoritarian abuse. But like Jenkins was, I am a "sucker for the branding". I remain a fan.

But I also enjoy a good piece of Olympic satire. My favorite? It might be Criminal Chalkist's "100 meter Dash 2011" appearing in Bristol ahead of London 2012, and considered a rebuke of Olympic commercialization.

So...what Olympic protest art has struck a nerve with you?