Meet Proteas – the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games Mascot

Proteas the seahorse represents the values of the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games – Strength, Pursuit, Inspiration and Celebration. Its body is coloured in red, green and blue, representing the three Tae-Geuks, which was used as the International Paralympic Committee logo from 1994-2004.

Proteas cheered on the athletes with Olympic mascots Athena and Phevos during Athens 2004.

Imagen

Proteas the seahorse is the mascot of the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games.

ⒸIPC

Get to Know: The Design and Symbolism 

Greek designer Spyros Gogos of Paragraph Design Limited won the mascot selection competition held internationally by the Athens 2004 Organising Committee. After coming up with the designs of the Olympic mascots Athena and Phevos, he was also asked to create the Paralympic mascot. He took a deliberate step away from previous Paralympic mascot designs and created what he felt best represented the nature of the competitions and the athletes’ constant goal of achieving excellence. 

The name of the mascot comes from the Greek word “protos”, which means “first in rank” or “excellent”. The seahorse was chosen because Gogos wanted to use imagery that relates to the sea, since the sea is an important element of Greek mythology and it is often associated with peace, tranquillity, passion and strength.