Colors Of The Winter Olympic 2010

How much are you loving the Winter Olympics?  Being stuck here in snowy NY while almost everyone I know is off galavanting the world on winter break- watching it every day has helped save my sanity.  Plus from a color perspective there is just so much to talk about!

First off: the official logo of Vancouver 2010. The little rock guy based on traditional rock formation landmarks used by natives in the Arctic Region (his name BTW is IIanaaq, meaning friendship) has been causing a bit of color controversy.

You see, it seems that typically official Olympic logos would include all 5 colors of the Olympic rings, as was first designed back in 1912.  A quick refresher: each color represents a continent.  Many were confused when designers left the color black out of IIanaaq, instead replacing it with a deep blue.

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In defense of the designers- I get it, the dark blue does look way better for IIaanaq’s rocky arms and they did use black for the text.  So really what’s the big deal?  Especially when you get an eyeful of the logo for London 2012. Now that’s shocking!

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Apparently the Vancouver logo was meant to represent the regional landscapes of Canada. Blues and greens for the land and water, yellow for the sun and red for the Canadian Maple leaf. I can only guess then that the London logo represents Great Britain in the 1980′s.

Another interesting color story this week is Vancouver’s choice to use brilliant blues and greens to color the backdrop of the Winter Games.

At first I thought they had read one of our many post about the combo or that it was simply an environmental theme.  Then I got a look of this picture and I totally got it.  Wow! BC is breathtakingly pretty!

Blue Mountain Winery in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia

The only thing is- I must admit the green is totally throwing me off as I’ve been watching.  I guess I didn’t realize how much I depend on color clues to follow along on the action.  I just can’t wrap my head around American athletes wearing Green.

Is it just me?

Even though his green helmet threw me off- how very cute is Bode Miller.? And with a name like Bode, what other career path do you think he could he have possibly taken besides professional skier?

I do however love the green rings.

On the fashion side, I must say I very much appreciate the team’s cool ombre  jackets.  Very chic, says me.

And the jolting “pop” of punk rock pink of Shen and Zhoa’s semi-final costumes were super cute.  Loved how when she twirled through the air you got that splash of energetic pink from the flip side of her skirt!!!

Why male skaters insist on always showing their chests-remains a mystery.

But my favorite use of color by far goes to returning Gold Medal winner, Russian Federation skater Evgeni Plushenko.

Menacing in “arch enemy” sparkling black (a role he apparently has chosen for himself). This guy is commanding on the ice!

I’m not sure if you caught the 2 minute clip about Plushenko that NBC ran prior to him skating last night.  Honestly, I thought I had been transported back to the cold war of the 1980′s.  They might as well have been playing a Russian version of Darth Vadar’s theme in the background…the music they did use, was so very close.

It was fantastic!  The brooding athlete referring to his ‘enemies’ not wanting him back.  The whole cold depiction of Russia, I was half expecting to see Mikhail Baryshnikov’s character from White Nights in the background.  The only sign that the interview was not taking place in 1983 was when Plushenko’s car drove by a Russian McDonald’s–otherwise total flashback.  All I could think was that the London 2012 logo would have felt right at home.

all Olympic images taken from the Vancouver 2010′s official website