International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has dismissed Iran’s claims that the logo for the London 2012 Games is “racist”.
Iran could boycott the event after claiming the emblem resembles the word “Zion” – a biblical term for Jerusalem. Iranian officials wrote to the IOC to highlight the perceived link.
Rogge told BBC Sport: “No, it can’t be serious. We will quietly reply, telling [Iran] the logo has nothing to do with racism or any political connotation.”
The Iranian letter urges other Muslim states to oppose the “racist logo”.
In an exclusive interview with BBC sports editor David Bond, Rogge said his response to the letter was “a big smile”…
The London logo shows the numbers “2012” in four jagged figures and until now has only been criticised for its design. With 18 months until the Olympics, a statement from the London Organising Committee [Locog] added: “[The logo] was launched in 2007 following testing and consultation.
“We are surprised that this complaint has been made now.”
– BBC News
16 Comments
It is crap.
I second Terje’s comment.
WTF is Ahmedinejad on? I want some of that.
You could probably lay bets on whether Ahmedinejad will still be where he is to complain by 2012.
An unhinged controversy over an appallingly bad logo invoking all the aesthetic sense of the debris of a morning after: so much of contemporary pathologies in one hit.
What’s with the downward reading, left to right? Personally I think it reads Ozzi – which makes it perfect for the green and gold team, come 2012.
Surely if one is saying it’s referring to Israel, one should read right to left, horizontally, in which case your reading makes more sense, KVD?
i think it is spelling out “Rorschach”, but i shudder to think what sigi freud would make of it, at a minimum “it iz clear zat ze artizt und committee are all exprezzing ein vish or longing fur ze anal stage ov psychozozial defelopment – vat boris said in ze cartoon”
LE, it looks more Eastern influenced – thinking Chinese, Japanese, Korean. Hence old style right to left, top to bottom interpretation – but I see you are also right. Whatever.
TerjeP and Boris probably are correct, but anything that gets up Mr Ahmedinejad’s nose is just fine by me, so Good One! England.
It looks like Aust on the right giving pleasure to London on the left.
Did we lose that bid to London and now they’re having fun with us, or am I just a little too far in the gutter tonight?
[email protected] well played Sir! Now that’s a Rorschach.
Pete M wins at a canter. Now laughing lots…
No, it’s DEFINITIVELY crap…
[email protected] Well played sir! Off topic on on-tone, US Chief Justice Roberts appears to be a droll fellow. This conclusion to a unanimous ruling, in a case where AT&T argued that being a legal person entitled it to personal privacy (the Supreme Court disagreed 9 zip) is a gem:
[email protected] and the best thing is that this remark cannot be struck out in a higher court. Deadly droll – and positive evidence for the freedom to say what you believe, protected by life tenure.
That whole judgment is actually a great example of clear legal writing, imho:
[email protected] Yep. Not hard to see why there was a 9-0 result.