Oh to have been a fly on the wall of a vacant office in downtown Vancouver last Friday and Saturday. That’s when a nine-member international panel of judges were peering over 1609 submissions laid out on 120 tables, end to end.
Sam Corea, Interim Communications Director for Vancouver 2010, told GamesBids.com, that the judges reduced the number of emblems through various rounds until they finally picked the possible winning emblem.
Corea said the next legal phase includes an international trademark search to ensure that the emblem is original and not similar to anything else. The VANOC board of directors and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) must also approve the emblem.
He said, “our goal is to launch the emblem in early 2005, perhaps by February 12th, which is the five year countdown to the 2010 Winter Games.
Meanwhile, a group of IOC staffers from the Games department, headed by Games executive director Gilbert Felli, and Rene Fasel, the chairman of the 2010 Coordination Commission, are in Vancouver reviewing the status of the 2010 Games planning areas. Corea told GamesBids.com that it was a low-key visit with only working meetings and no venue tours.
