Before they receive medals, winners get white tigers
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – Medalists at the Pyeongchang Olympics get something very precious to commemorate their triumphs.
And a little while later, they get their medals.
Gold, silver and bronze medalists are getting plush soohorangs, the white tiger that’s the Pyeongchang mascot, rather than flowers during the postevent ceremony held at each competition venue.
“The soohorang is very cute and very pretty,” said Sung Baik You, a spokesman for the Pyeongchang organizing committee. “The athletes who have received the soohorang have been very happy with it.”
Halfpipe gold medalist Chloe Kim had no complaints, occasionally playing with the stuffed animal during the medalists news conference.
“The mascot is really cute,” she said. Unlike the much larger Summer Olympics, where medals are awarded at each competition venue, the Winter Games are small enough to have nightly medal ceremonies. But it would be awkward to simply close up shop after gold, silver and bronze has been won, so there’s a ceremony at the venue to recognize the winners.
At previous Olympics, the medalists got flowers.
But soohorang is a more appropriate keepsake for the Pyeongchang Games, given the special place tigers have in Korean culture. They appear often in mythology and art. The white tiger is particularly sacred, considered to be the guardian animal of South Korea.
Soohorang’s name, in fact, is a mashup of the Korean word for protection, soohoo, while rang comes from the word for tiger, ho-rang-i. Olympic organizers say the mascot’s name is paying homage to a folk song Jeong-seon A-ri-rang, which comes from the Gangwon province where the Games are being held.
The mascot for the Seoul Olympics also was a tiger, Hodori. But if 1988 medalists wanted to take one home, they had to buy one.