During the course of his career, Jože Trobec created hundreds of cartoons and caricatures, but one of his creations still stands out: an Olympic mascot that became famous around the world.

An academically trained artist, Trobec initially joined the electronics manufacturer Iskra, where he worked on the design team that came up with the legendary ETA telephone, a sleek, modernist design that went on to win a number of major international awards. He later became well-known for his humorous caricatures, which earned him widespread critical praise. It was a sporting event, however, that finally made Trobec famous.

As Yugoslavia was preparing to host the 1984 Winter Olympics, the local Olympic Committee organized a competition for the games’ official mascots. Almost on a whim, Tropec decided enter the competition and headed to the post office on the last day possible to submit his proposal.

The competing entries consisted of a menagerie of animals, but Trobec’s proposal was the only wolf in the bunch: stylized, distinctly modernist, yet full of personality. When newspaper readers across Yugoslavia were asked to pick their favorite design, Trobec’s Vučko (meaning “Little Wolf” in Bosnian) came out on top.

Throughout the Olympics, Vučko appeared on billboards, posters, clothes - and TV screens around the world. Not all versions of the wolf pleased Trobec: Many were reproduced without the Olympic Committee’s authorization and lacked the graceful, modernist forms of the original. Still, the mascot was a resounding success and the people of Sarajevo came to embrace little Vučko as one of their own.

Sarajevo’s glory was short-lived, however. Less than a decade after the Olympics, the city experienced the longest military siege in modern European history. The Olympic venues that had brought joy to millions were almost completely destroyed, and the main stadium was turned into a makeshift cemetery.

But after the Bosnian War, a familiar icon began reappearing throughout Sarajevo: Vučko was back, his face appearing on everything from tourist brochures to hotel façades. More than ever before, Trobec’s little wolf came to represent the entire city as it struggled to recover and reclaim its Olympic glory.

For many, the 1984 Olympics are now merely a distant memory, but Vučko is still an icon of Sarajevo and the city’s legendary perseverance.