The Phryges, official mascots of the Paris 2024 Games. Photo: Julie Gazzoti / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
Unlike most others in recent years, the mascots of the Paris Olympics are not recognisably humanoid or animal.
Instead, the French have gone with a pair of hats known as the Phryges.
Perhaps best-known outside France as the kind of hat the Smurfs wore, the Phrygian cap dates back thousands of years.
It first emerged in present-day Iran, and was worn by people in Ancient Greece and Rome.
By the late 1700s it had become a symbol of freedom, popular with revolutionaries in both France and the US. While its prominence in the US faded, it remained a symbol of liberty in Europe, and according to the Olympics website "are seen everywhere in French culture and everyday life, from paintings to stamps, town halls to coins".
"They are a symbol of French history and values, the perfect representation for their home Games."
Their colours - red, white and blue - are those of the French flag.
There are two different Phryges. One has two legs, and represents the Olympics, and the other has one leg replaced with a blade - representing the Paralympics.
The mascots' motto is: "Alone we go faster, but together we go further."
