BEIJING, China — When most champions get off the slopes or the ice at the Beijing Olympics, they are handed Bing Dwen Dwen, the chubby panda mascot of the Games.
Where are the medals? Well, they come later at a special ceremony where the day’s winners gather.
But immediately after the competition, the winning athletes receive a plush toy panda, stuffed inside a plastic shell that is meant to represent ice. Bing, in fact, means ice in Chinese.
The toy is also adorned with a golden wreath. The bright colors of the halo around its face represent the latest advanced technologies of the ice and snow sport tracks at the Games, while the heart on its left palm symbolizes China's hospitality for athletes and spectators at the Winter Olympics.
The design for Bing Dwen Dwen was chosen from over 5,800 submissions from China and 35 countries around the world.
A similar ritual unfolded at the Pyeongchang Games four years ago.
There, immediately after winning gold, silver or bronze, medalists got Soohorang, a striped white tiger that served as the mascot of those Games.
Olympics
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