Winter Olympics 2022 Why are athletes given pandas not medals on the podium? Is it because of Covid? – Eurosport COM

Chances are youve been wondering why athletes are given cuddly pandas on the podium instead of medals at Beijing 2022.

At the Tokyo Summer Olympics we became accustomed to the medals being dished out inside the stadium albeit with athletes having to put medals around their own necks due to Covid risks but that isnt happening in Beijing.

Instead, medallists have received a fluffy mascot on the podium, as modelled by New Zealands snowboard sensation Zoi Sadowski-Synnott in the above video.

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So whats going on?

You cant say Winter Olympic medallists dont get their time in the limelight. They typically enjoy not one but two ceremonies: a victory ceremony and a medal ceremony.

The victory ceremony follows shortly after the event on a podium, with athletes in Beijing receiving a cuddly panda and hand-knitted bouquets which imitate six real flowers: roses, Chinese roses, lilies of the valley, hydrangeas, laurel, and olive branches.

The medal ceremony takes place later at a special plaza where, as the name suggests, athletes will receive their gold, silver and bronze medals. Like Tokyo, athletes will have to put on their own medals due to coronavirus risks.

While China has strict Covid restrictions, including widespread use of masks when not mixing within your own team bubble, the victory ceremony, and a later medal ceremony, has long been a staple of the Winter Olympics.

The smiley and chubby panda is wrapped in a sheet of ice to shield them from the elements. Theyve also been immortalised in key chains, pillows and other merchandise.

China have had to panic order truckloads more of the mascot after stocks plunged in a country gripped by Olympic fever.

"I almost cried seeing the mascot," Czech ice dancer Natalie Taschlerova told the Global Times before the Games. Steady on, Natalie, thats going overboard

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Winter Olympics 2022 Why are athletes given pandas not medals on the podium? Is it because of Covid? - Eurosport COM