Russia’s much criticized choice of three fluffy mammals as mascots for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games took a new twist last Monday, when President Dmitry Medvedev admitted their election was flawed.
Not everyone was happy when Russians picked a snow leopard, a hare and a polar bear as official mascots for the Sochi Games in a weekend television poll.
Some people were already upset after organizers eliminated the original favorite, Grandfather Frost — the Russian Father Christmas.
Photo: AFP/courtesy of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee
照片：法新社／索契二零一四組織委員會
After that, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had let slip that he wanted the snow leopard to win, leading to a surge of votes for the spotted predator — and allegations of dirty tricks.
Speaking at a meeting on designing a new electronic payment and social security card, Medvedev declared: “I hope that this is going to be fairer than the discussion of the symbols for our Olympics…This time there will not be such a difference between the television vote and the (initial) Internet vote.”
The online vote for the mascots already faced a storm of criticism after its most popular contender, the hairy blue frog Zoich with a ski pole in his mouth, didn’t make it onto the short list.
Photo: AFP/courtesy of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee
照片：法新社／索契二零一四組織委員會
Among the TV poll winners, pundits complained that the bear was a blatant copy of the 1980 Moscow Olympics mascot and also too close to the bear symbol of the ruling United Russia party.
Meanwhile, the Russian branch of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) complained that the snow leopard was a confusing choice, as the species lives nowhere near the Caucasus mountains, where the Olympics will be held.
Russia has started reintroducing the Persian leopard in the Caucasus, but the WWF pointed out that the Olympics Mascot was a snow leopard, which in Russia lives only in distant southern Siberia.
(AFP)
Photo: AFP/courtesy of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee
照片：法新社／索契二零一四組織委員會
俄羅斯二零一四年冬季奧林匹克運動會選出三隻絨毛哺乳類動物當作是吉祥物，遭外界諸多批評，俄羅斯總統德米崔‧麥維德夫上週一承認它們的選票有瑕疵後，出現新轉折。
在一個週末的俄羅斯電視直播票選中，選出一隻雪豹、一隻野兔與一頭北極熊作為索契奧運會的官方吉祥物，但並非每個人都高興買帳。
有些人因此悶悶不樂，因主辦單位淘汰掉原先看好的俄羅斯耶誕老人「寒天爺爺」。
在此之後，俄羅斯總理弗拉吉米爾‧普廷把他希望雪豹贏這事情說漏嘴，因此讓這隻有斑紋的掠食性動物票數竄高，並遭外界指控其中有動手腳。
麥維德夫在一場為俄羅斯民眾設計的新款電子付款與社會安全卡的會議上宣布，「我希望這（會議）會比討論奧林匹克的吉祥物來得更公正。…這次將不會有所謂電視選票與初期網路選票的差異。」
早在網路最受歡迎的角逐者─有毛且嘴裡叼著一支滑雪杖的藍青蛙Zoich─未能進入候選名單後，網路吉祥物票選就面臨一陣批評聲浪。
在電視票選勝出的角逐者，專家們抱怨這頭熊是公然複製一九八零年莫斯科奧林匹克的吉祥物，並且很類似執政的統一俄羅斯黨的黨熊。
同時，世界自然基金會俄羅斯分會抱怨，雪豹是個易混淆的選擇，因為這物種住在離冬奧舉辨地高加索山脈相距甚遠的他方。
俄羅斯已開始在高加索區域引進波斯豹，不過世界自然基金會指出奧林匹克吉祥物雪豹，只住在俄羅斯西伯利亞南部的偏遠地帶。
（法新社／翻譯：林亞蒂）
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