冬奧會獲獎選手賽后拿到的為什么是吉祥物？而不是獎牌和鮮花？

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.

眼尖的平昌冬奧會觀眾已經發(fā)現(xiàn)，賽后當獲獎選手站在領獎臺上，頒發(fā)給他們的不再是鮮花和獎牌，而是一個小毛絨玩具。

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，難道是奧運會頒獎規(guī)則改了嗎?為什么頒發(fā)給獲獎選手的是一個小玩具?

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.

這個小毛絨玩具是一只名為Soohorang的白老虎，它是2018年平昌冬奧會的吉祥物。老虎在韓國文化中具有重要的象征意義，一直被視為人們的守護者。1988年漢城(現(xiàn)為首爾)奧運會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)給獲獎選手一只吉祥物，而不是鮮花和獎牌呢?

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年里約夏季奧運會上，國際奧委會認為給每位獲獎選手配上鮮花并不環(huán)保，因此決定在頒發(fā)獎牌時送給獲獎選手一個吉祥物或者一個小獎品。

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.

冬奧會的獲獎選手仍會得到獎牌，但不是在賽后馬上舉行的儀式上。由于冬奧會的比賽類別比夏季奧運會少得多，國際奧委會可以在一天的比賽結束后統(tǒng)一舉行一次頒獎儀式，給當天所有的獲獎選手頒發(fā)獎牌。這在夏季奧運會行不通，因為儀式會耗時太久。

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