Untitled Document
 Mascots
have been created for the Olympics to help inspire people’s imagination
since the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, where Schuss,
an image of a straight downhill run, was used as a mascot. Usually,
mascots are fictional characters, including animals native to the
area. They symbolize the cultural heritage of the area where the Olympics
are taking place.
Three different mascots have been chosen for the XXII Winter Olympic
Games in Sochi, Russia (Feb. 7-23): the Polar Bear, the European Hare,
and the Amur Snow Leopard. Among them, the Snow Leopard was created
by Vadim Pak, a Korean-Russian designer from the Russian Far East.
In 2011, when a popular vote was conducted to choose the Sochi mascots,
the snowboarding Snow Leopard was chosen alongside the other two mascots.
Pak immediately won nationwide fame, as he was introduced as its creator.
His leopard character particularly came into the spotlight when then
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin showed his preference for the
animal as a mascot.
 Pak, the
designer of the Snow Leopard with the image of the brave mountain
rescuer, said, “The Snow Leopard is the symbol of bravery and victory.”
As a descendant of a Korean family who suffered from the Soviet government’s
forced relocation of migrants, he has contributed to the success of
the Sochi Olympics, with his Snow Leopard serving as a symbol of the
winter Olympic Games there. |
World
Times Editor Chung Myung-je
(jlinden@timescore.co.kr)
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