Flag flap over Aussie kangaroo catches IOC cold
Source: Agencies |
February 7, 2010, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
OLYMPIC chiefs went toe-to-toe with a boxing kangaroo on Friday when the Australian Olympic Committee refused to remove a giant flag of the iconic character hanging in the Winter Games athletes' village in Vancouver.
"It is our mascot," said defiant AOC spokesman Mike Tancred. "It says what Australia is; that we punch above our weight, that we are a very determined nation."
The dispute developed into a minor international incident after an International Olympic Committee official ordered the AOC to take down the flag earlier in the week because it bears a registered trademark and is a commercial property.
But the AOC has said the flag, which depicts a yellow kangaroo wearing red boxing gloves, will be in place until it receives an official written request from the IOC.
The IOC said it was looking into the matter.
"It's something our athletes love, it's something the young volunteers in the village love," said Tancred.
"I just walked out of the village and I was probably stopped by about 10 volunteers saying, 'please don't let them take down your flag.'
"We will take it down if the IOC write us a letter but if we do there could be a riot."
While the flag flap is unlikely to spark actual riots in the Olympic city, athletes, politicians and volunteers have rallied around Australia.
The mayor of Surrey, a Vancouver suburb, has offered to fly the boxing kangaroo there while the premier of British Columbia Gordon Campbell and Vancouver Olympic organizing chief John Furlong have both viewed the standoff with humor. "If that's the kind of issue we're dealing with, we're well set for the Olympics," Campbell said.
The boxing kangaroo first appeared on the Australian scene in 1983 when Alan Bond and crew waved the flag en route to winning the America's Cup yachting race.
Bond sold the trademarked image to the AOC, the boxing kangaroo becoming a symbol of Australia's fighting spirit.
"It is our mascot," said defiant AOC spokesman Mike Tancred. "It says what Australia is; that we punch above our weight, that we are a very determined nation."
The dispute developed into a minor international incident after an International Olympic Committee official ordered the AOC to take down the flag earlier in the week because it bears a registered trademark and is a commercial property.
But the AOC has said the flag, which depicts a yellow kangaroo wearing red boxing gloves, will be in place until it receives an official written request from the IOC.
The IOC said it was looking into the matter.
"It's something our athletes love, it's something the young volunteers in the village love," said Tancred.
"I just walked out of the village and I was probably stopped by about 10 volunteers saying, 'please don't let them take down your flag.'
"We will take it down if the IOC write us a letter but if we do there could be a riot."
While the flag flap is unlikely to spark actual riots in the Olympic city, athletes, politicians and volunteers have rallied around Australia.
The mayor of Surrey, a Vancouver suburb, has offered to fly the boxing kangaroo there while the premier of British Columbia Gordon Campbell and Vancouver Olympic organizing chief John Furlong have both viewed the standoff with humor. "If that's the kind of issue we're dealing with, we're well set for the Olympics," Campbell said.
The boxing kangaroo first appeared on the Australian scene in 1983 when Alan Bond and crew waved the flag en route to winning the America's Cup yachting race.
Bond sold the trademarked image to the AOC, the boxing kangaroo becoming a symbol of Australia's fighting spirit.
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