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Tibetan Antelope to be Chinese Olympics mascot?
This is the only contendor with some athleticism, say the
antelope's supporters. The other contendors are the giant
panda, the Monkey King, and the South China Tiger.
OUR SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
April 8, 2005: The race for the official mascot for the 2008 Beijing Olympics is on - and the latest hot contender is China's endangered Tibetan antelope.
According to Reuters and the Chinese newspaper People's Daily, the Tibetan antelope which is endangered in China as a result of poaching and wildlife habitat destruction, is a good candidate as it is quite an athletic animal.
The toher candidates to be the mascot of the Chinese Olympics to be held in Beijing in 2008 are the legendary 'Monkey King', the giant panda and the South China Tiger.
"The Tibetan antelope is much more sporty than other recommended animals reflecting 'higher, faster and stronger'," Ma Peihua, vice governor of China's western Qinghai province, home to many of the animals, was quoted as saying in Monday's China Daily.
The Tibetan antelope population on China's Qinghai-Tibet plateau plummeted from more than 1 million a century ago to around 20,000 in the 1990s due to poaching, but protection efforts had brought their numbers back to around 50,000, the newspaper said.
There is a possibility that all the contenders - the Tibetan antelope, the giant panda, the tiger and the magical Monkey King from Chinese legend may end up sharing Olympic mascot duty.
"Insiders say the emblem may be composed of two or three images," the China Daily said.
The 2000 Sydney Games featured three animal mascots -- Olly the Kookaburra, Syd the Platypus and Millie the Spiny Anteater.
OUR SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
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