©IOC

Inspired by the legends of the Native American Indians, the three mascots for the Games in Salt Lake City represent a black bear (Coal), a coyote (Copper) and a hare (Powder). According to one legend, brave hunters once left their village to go and hunt a bear. But the bear was so strong (fortius) that they could not catch it. As for the coyote, it helped to recover fire on the day when the earth became dark and cold: it climbed to the top of the highest mountain (altius) to find the fire and bring warmth back to the earth. Lastly, the hare performed a heroic deed at the time when the sun was burning the earth: it ran so fast (citius) that it was able to reach the top of a mountain and fire an arrow at the sun, to make it go down and cool the land.