Canmoo's Story

I'm going to take this opportunity to tell you about a very very important piece of Canadian IMO history - our mascot, Canmoo. 

Canmoo is the Canadian IMO team mascot - and has been since 2005.  

I have been the keeper of Princess Canmoo, pictured below, also known as Canmoo 12.0.

Yes, that's right...this is the 12th Canmoo, and the most safely kept, because I'm her keeper.  But I digress. 

Canmoo was introduced in 2005 at the IMO training camp held in Banff.  He could be found in just about any gift store in the Banff area back then...the original Canmoo was quite large, about 18 inches in height tall.  The original Canmoo was lost in 2006 - no one is sure where it is.  Since then, Canmoo was the official team mascot for the IMO, but also made a few appearances at the IOI (Internaional Olympiad for Informatics) as well!

In either 2007 or 2008, one of the trainers was kind enough to bring me back Princess Canmoo - she's about 3/4 of the size of the original, hence the Princess title (I did not bring her crown with her this time).  

Princess Canmoo was actually just meant to be on the sidelines with me, but she was called into action in 2009.  The 2009 IMO team actually lost Canmoo #11 at an airport in Frankfurt, Germany...so since I was the only person with an existing Canmoo, Princess Canmoo stepped in.  Her first event was the 2009 IOI in Bulgaria.  Not a bad showing - 4 medals!

Princess Canmoo attended IOI two years in a row, but like, me, this is her first time at the IMO.  While here, she's been making some friends!

This is mini-Canmoo, which the team has kept since 2011.  It's been through some tough love, including an actual swim in the ocean...

And while here, Princess Canmoo has made a couple other friends!

(Btw, that's a Drop Bear and a polar bear)

So there you have it - the known history of Canmoo as I know it.  Don't forget, Canmoo has a Twitter account (@theRealCanmoo)