Tokyo 2020 Holds First Mascot Selection Meeting

(ATR) The process that will determine the mascot of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is now underway.

The 14-member commission chosen to come up with a transparent and independent selection process is chaired by Ryohei Miyata, the same person to chair the selection committee for Tokyo 2020’s Olympic and Paralympic logos.

The group of scholars, artists and athletes gathered for the first of seven meetings on Tuesday. Tokyo 2020 says the selection commission will determine the process in choosing the mascot and submit its ideas to the IOC by the end of March.

The need for an independent commission to select the Olympic mascot was fueled by controversy over the original design of the Tokyo 2020 logo. This design by Kenjiro Sano allegedly plagiarized a theater logo in Belgium and was scrapped by the organizing committee.

A 21-member emblem selection committee was initiated to choose a new, original design out of nearly 15,000 entries from the Japanese public. The committee whittled down the entries in stages until a final selection was made approximately seven months after the previous design was decommissioned.

"We are really excited to launch this project with such experts," says Tokyo 2020 chief executive officer Toshiro Muto. "I am confident the commission will come up with the most engaging, creative and transparent ways of selecting mascots for the 2020 Games."

"Mascots are ambassadors of the Games to the world. I hope the Tokyo 2020 Games mascots will inspire and be loved by everyone around the world, especially by children."

With its selection, the Tokyo 2020 mascot will join the Nagano 1998 Snowlets as the only mascots in Japan’s Olympic history. Neither the Tokyo 1964 Summer Games nor the Sapporo 1972 Winter Games had mascots.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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