First there were no Olympic mascots. Then in 1968 the Red Jaguar appeared in Mexico City. Since then there’s been a daschund, a beaver, a half-human half-sheep dog, and a computer generated something or other for the 1996 Atlanta games. The Sydney games had three mascots, Nagano had four, and now in a fit of indecision there will be five (count ’em, 5!) for the 2008 games in Beijing — a fish, panda, Tibetan antelope, swallow, and yes, a walking Olympic Flame. And they don’t mean Greg Louganis. Look for the 2012 London games to have 27 mascots, which is one for every gold medal the country has ever won in the winter Olympics. Well, assuming they win one more.