Olympic Games in the opening ceremony. Though the flame has been an Olympic symbol since 1928, the torch relay was only introduced at the 1936 Summer Games to promote the Third Reich. The Olympic mascot, an animal or human figure representing the cultural heritage of the host country, was introduced in 1968. It has played an important part of the Games' identity promotion since the 1980 Summer Olympics, when the Russian bear cub Misha reached international stardom. The mascot of the Summer Olympics in London was named Wenlock after the town of Much Wenlock in Shropshire. Much Wenlock still hosts the Wenlock
Summer Olympic Games demand for tickets to all levels of each event, there was controversy when seats set aside for sponsors and National Delegations went unused in the early days. A system of reallocation was put in place so the empty seats were filled throughout the Games. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil hosted the 2016 Summer Olympics, becoming the third city in the Southern Hemisphere to host the Olympic Games after Melbourne, Australia, in 1956 and Sydney, Australia, in 2000, and the first South American city to host the Olympics. The preparation for these Games was overshadowed by controversies, including the instability of Brazil's