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84 Olympic Mascots Revealed
Other | Wednesday 30th May 2012 | Osh
The giant mascots were unveiled yesterday across London to greet tourists for the Games this July.
London 2012 has already cost the capital a little over £12 million in public taxes, and over £32 million overall. Although, the original budget was a little over £9 million.
But the mascot sculptures, of Wenlock (the Olympic mascot) and Mandeville (the Paralympic mascot) have been scattered around the city in walking and travel hotspots.
Each fibre glass creature will weigh one tonne and reach 2.3 metres perched on concrete plinths. They have been created and decorated by over 20 artists and sculptors and are situated in colour-coded walking routes including Mayfair, Hyde Park and the South Bank.
Over four million trail maps will be handed out by volunteers to tourists for the sculptures and £490,000 has been spent on the project so far. The mascots were originally imagined by acclaimed children’s author Michael Morourgo. They are based around the idea that the two characters are the lost drops of steel from the construction workers’ efforts to build the Olympic Stadium.
Wenlock is named after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock, which first hosted the 'Wenlock Olympian Games' in the 1850s. Mandeville, however, is named after the location where the Paralympic movement was founded after World War II.
Speaking before the mascots were revealed, London 2012 chairman Lord Coe told the BBC Today programme: “We want it to be fun, we want it to try and engage and reconnect young people to sport and that should be fun, teach them to play sport and anchor it in our extraordinary Olympic and Paralympic history.”
Mandeville and Wenlock sculptures will be auctioned after the Games with all proceeds going to charity chosen by the Mayor of London. Boris Johnson said “Wenlock and Mandeville are eminently suitable guides for Londoners and tourists wanting to discover the city.”
When the mascots were first unveiled to the public back in 2007, they were disliked by the majority of the public. But now their comments are a lot more positive. Luke Boucher, 27, from Marble Arch described the mascot trail as a “daring project” and Luke Boucher, 27, also from Marble Arch said “They look like robots from a Japanese manga cartoon, but I think people will enjoy that. Personally I think they are really cool, and tourists come to London expecting to see something different and exciting.”
Marianne Calnan
