Cobi, the mischievous little dog created by Javier Mariscal (1950-) is, for mot people, synonymous with the Barcelona Games. However, the design was not universally popular when it was fist unveiled. It attracted harsh criticism form the popular press, as its false perspective broke with established traditions. "Only Manuel Vasquez Montalban, a crime novelist, rose to Marsical’s defence. ‘I am pro-Cobi’, he declared. He is a tribute to all the dogs that have been run over at the tolls on the Barcelona motorway".
"I just couldn’t think of a way to show a prawn doing a show jump. So it had to be a dog", explained Mariscal. The dog was named Cobi as it was easy to remember and pronounce in every language, and it was also a reference to COOB’92, the Organising Committee.
