Beijing chooses 5 dolls for Olympic mascot
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-11-14 10:21

Beijing chose five stylized doll mascots for the 2008 Olympic games on Friday representing a panda, a Tibetan antelope, a swallow, a fish and the spirit of the Olympic flame.

Chinese girl shows a key chain of a Olympic mascot called 'Huanhuan' at a department store in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province,November 13, 2005. Beijing chose five stylised doll mascots for the 2008 Olympic games on Friday representing a panda, a Tibetan antelope, a swallow, a fish and the spirit of the Olympic flame. [Reuters]

Announced in a live nationwide broadcast with only 1,000 days to go before the opening ceremony, the mascots will join the official games slogan "One World, One Dream" and running man emblem which looks like the Chinese character for "capital."

"They reflect the cultural diversity of China as a multi-ethnic country," Liu Qi, head of the games organizing committee, said. "They represent the enthusiasm and aspirations of our people."

The mascots are called "Beibei," "Jingjing," "Huanhuan," "Yingying" and "Nini," which together mean "Beijing welcomes you."

Coloured in the five hues of the Olympic rings, they also represent the sea, forests, fire, earth and air.

Multiple mascots are not uncommon. The 2000 Sydney games had three native Australian animals and two years later in Salt Lake City a hare, coyote and bear represented the event.

"We have approved them," International Olympic Committee coordinating commission chairman Hein Verbruggen said in Beijing. "That means we like them, otherwise we wouldn't have done that."