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Race begins for Olympics mascot
By Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-08-06 00:48
The question of the mascot for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games has been the
subject of discussions since the bid to host the sports was won.
In the two years since then, a host of Chinese treasured symbols have been
considered.
The giant panda; the endangered golden monkey and red-crowned crane; and the
traditional cartoon figure the Monkey King have all been favourites along the
way.
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The panda
mascot is one of the
favorites.
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Beijing Organizing Committee for
the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) has announced that the selection process
for the mascot design officially started Thursday, and the final mascot will be
unveiled on June 1 next year.
Professional designing organizations and staff from all over the world will
have the chance to propose their designs. Children's opinions will be considered
an important part of the selection process.
Vice-director of BOCOG Cultural Activity Department Zhang Ming says BOCOG
will mail hundreds of invitation for the collection of the designs of the
mascots for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Other interested professionals can
download the invitation from BOCOG's official website www.beijing-2008.org.
"The mascot carries the concept of the Games," said Zhang.
"It should be endearing and characterized by Chinese culture. It should be
popular with children and liked by men and women of different cultural
backgrounds, and different age groups."
To involve more people in the selection process, as well as the judging
committee of experts, there will be an appraisal committee, composed of
representatives from different fields.
But ordinary people will not get to vote for the final mascot.
"There won't be a public vote for the mascot as there was in the selection of
the design schemes for the national stadium," said Jiang Xiaoyu, BOCOG vice
president. "We will seek legal protection before we publish the final decision."
Zhang said all the candidate designs should be made up of individuals or
groups of main cartoon figures and five extended figures, involving equestrian,
swimming, running, cycling and gymnastics events.
"The mascot should also have a marketing value that can be easily attached to
different Olympic licensed products, such as T-shirts, bags, cups, pens, and so
on, and look good on TV, the Internet, mobile phones and anything to do with the
Olympics," Zhang added.
"The income from the mascot of next month's Athens Olympic Games is expected
to reach 720 million euros, with 10 per cent of it coming to the organizing
committee."
The designs must be collected by 5:30 pm on December 1. The entire process of
judging, revising, reporting and legal registering will end before
May.
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