冬奧會(huì)獲獎(jiǎng)選手賽后拿到的為什么是吉祥物？而不是獎(jiǎng)牌和鮮花？

Eagle-eyed viewers watching the 2018 Winter Olympics have spotted that athletes are no longer being presented with flowers and medals after competing, but a little stuffed animal when they step onto the podium.

眼尖的平昌冬奧會(huì)觀眾已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)，賽后當(dāng)獲獎(jiǎng)選手站在領(lǐng)獎(jiǎng)臺(tái)上，頒發(fā)給他們的不再是鮮花和獎(jiǎng)牌，而是一個(gè)小毛絨玩具。

It’s left many asking what happened to the normal Olympic podium protocol, and why are athletes being given a small toy instead?

很多人不禁心生疑問(wèn)，難道是奧運(yùn)會(huì)頒獎(jiǎng)規(guī)則改了嗎?為什么頒發(fā)給獲獎(jiǎng)選手的是一個(gè)小玩具?

Firstly, the small toy is named Soohorang, a white tiger that represents the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. The tiger is an important figure in Korean culture, long considered to be their guardian animal, and a regular tiger was used as the mascot of the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics.

這個(gè)小毛絨玩具是一只名為Soohorang的白老虎，它是2018年平昌冬奧會(huì)的吉祥物。老虎在韓國(guó)文化中具有重要的象征意義，一直被視為人們的守護(hù)者。1988年漢城(現(xiàn)為首爾)奧運(yùn)會(huì)的吉祥物也是一只老虎。

So why is this being given to athletes instead of flowers and medals?

那么為什么要頒發(fā)給獲獎(jiǎng)選手一只吉祥物，而不是鮮花和獎(jiǎng)牌呢?

At the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the International Olympic Committee decided that giving athletes flowers on the podium was unsustainable, and decided to change the process to involve the awarding of a mascot or small trophy.

2016年里約夏季奧運(yùn)會(huì)上，國(guó)際奧委會(huì)認(rèn)為給每位獲獎(jiǎng)選手配上鮮花并不環(huán)保，因此決定在頒發(fā)獎(jiǎng)牌時(shí)送給獲獎(jiǎng)選手一個(gè)吉祥物或者一個(gè)小獎(jiǎng)品。

Successful athletes do still receive medals, just not at the initial ceremony after the event. Because the Winter Olympics involves far fewer categories than the Summer Olympics, the IOC is able to hold a ceremony at the end of each day to award all medals to athletes. This isn’t possible at the Summer Olympics as the ceremony would take too long to compete.

冬奧會(huì)的獲獎(jiǎng)選手仍會(huì)得到獎(jiǎng)牌，但不是在賽后馬上舉行的儀式上。由于冬奧會(huì)的比賽類別比夏季奧運(yùn)會(huì)少得多，國(guó)際奧委會(huì)可以在一天的比賽結(jié)束后統(tǒng)一舉行一次頒獎(jiǎng)儀式，給當(dāng)天所有的獲獎(jiǎng)選手頒發(fā)獎(jiǎng)牌。這在夏季奧運(yùn)會(huì)行不通，因?yàn)閮x式會(huì)耗時(shí)太久。

There’s also the chance for fans to receive their own Soohorang without having to compete for and win a gold medal, as the mascot is available to buy for £39.95 on Amazon.

另外，冬奧會(huì)粉絲們無(wú)需得獎(jiǎng)就能擁有自己的Soohorang吉祥物。吉祥物在亞馬遜網(wǎng)站有售，單價(jià)39.95英鎊(約合355元人民幣)。