TeamGym-EM From the NBA to Luxembourg: Mascot Luigi was the mood cannon in the coque

Of the Monkey with a T-shirt and shorts, who heated up the audience at the TeamGym European Championship, goes by the name of Luigi and was brought to life in 2019 to animate the people in the spectator stands at European gymnastics competitions, but also to take away the nervousness of the athletes before their performance. Since then he has always been there. But who is actually under the funny costume that has inspired the people in the Coque?

Bring entertainment culture from America to Europe

They are two men who earn their money full-time as mascots. Scott Hesington and Kenn Solomon are from the USA and have dedicated their lives to entertaining at sporting events. “We haven’t done anything else in our lives. For the last 25 to 30 years we’ve had a career as mascots in the NBA,” Hesington said. He was active with the Orlando Magic and the Detroit Pistons, while Solomon was with the Denver Nuggets. They’ve since stopped doing that to bring the culture of entertainment that has long been a tradition in American sports competitions to Europe. Hesington founded the company Jigsaw Entertainment for this purpose – one of his company’s tasks is to offer mascots for large events.

In 2017 he was also in action at the World Athletics Championships in London – that’s where the European Gymnastics Federation took notice of him. “They asked to have a mascot, too,” he says. The association previously had a monkey as a stuffed animal that was always taken to competitions – this was then brought to life in 2019. Gradually you then built up a personal character for the monkey in white and blue clothes. Almost three years later, Luigi was a guest in the Coque and captivated the fans.

“It was a lot of fun performing here because people were interactive. We perform, they cheer and laugh. That’s our job,” explains Solomon: “We do stunts or little sketches and that makes people happy – and the entertainment of the whole event grows with it.” “The goal is to entertain people with a varied program and maybe that attract more viewers too,” adds Hesington. The mascot is intended to add real value to the event – and it did.

The fans don’t realize that Luigi is lived out by two people. Because Luigi does not speak – “he has no voice”, says the association. Luigi only communicates by gesturing. They don’t want to reveal how often the two change costumes. This is done in secret and people are not supposed to pay attention, just have fun with the mascot. Only so much: “We change as often as necessary because it is a physically demanding task. It’s very hot under the costume – 15 degrees more than without it – we dance and jump to it. It is very tiring.”

Joé Weimerskirch, born in 1996, has been part of the sports department at the Tagesblatt since 2020. After studying journalism at the University of Kent, he gained his first journalistic experience in the sports department of the Luxemburger Wort before joining the daily newspaper. Since August 2020, Joé Weimerskirch has been reporting here on current sporting events, with a focus on handball.
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