The Times reports that China’s Communist Party officials are locked in a battle over which animal to choose as mascot for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games, forcing the Beijing 2008 organizing committee to extend the deadline for a decision twice.
The winning mascot was to be announced on June 1. In July officials said they expected a decision by the end of August. It is now September with no announcement and a spokeswoman for the organizing committee said that a mascot will be chosen by the end of the year.
The deadline for entries was December 1, 2004 and the committee received 662 recommendations including 37 from overseas. There have now been two elimination rounds.
The winner will be submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its trademark registered.
Liu Peng, the committee’s executive president, said recently that an announcement could be expected on November 12 – 1,000 days before the Opening Ceremony of the Games.
The Times reports that competing regional interests arguing for animals that symbolize their part of the country, have caused the delays.
Sources told the Times the finalists are the panda, the swallow, the golden monkey, the Tibetan antelope and a mythical human figure.
The China Daily reported that the antelope faces stiff competition from the panda, the south China tiger and the Monkey King, hero of the Chinese classic Journey to the West.
Internet surveys show the panda in first place with more than 58 per cent of respondents supporting it, but the Times says it might not make the final cut since the panda was the mascot of the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing and is the symbol of the World Wide Fund for Nature.
