Animal was the mascot of the U.S. Snowboarding Team for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. This was the first year that snowboarding was recognized by the Olympics, and the team adopted Animal as their mascot.

Animal made a television appearance in Nagano with CBS reporter Kennedy, during which she stapled his feet to a snowboard.

A series of Winter Olympics pins were released, which featured a snowboarding Animal, to commemorate the event. The pins were available again at the following Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002.