Four-year-old Katie Koford took one look at the pair of lumpy-looking mascots just unveiled for the next Olympics in Athens, Greece, and stuck out her tongue.
"Yucky," she proclaimed. "Where's their arms?"
The Ogden youngster knows what she likes. One of her favorite toys is a "Powder" doll, the hare mascot from the 2002 Winter Games. Why? "Because he was white as the snow," Koford said.
But wouldn't she also want stuffed versions of "Athena and Phevos," described by organizers of 2004 Summer Games as inspired by ancient Greek dolls that date back to the 7th century B.C.?
"No. I only like mascots like the bear," Koford said, referring to "Coal" the black bear, who, along with "Powder" the hare and "Copper" the coyote, made up the Salt Lake City Games' mascot trio.
Kim Baker, who sells Olympic pins from a Crossroads Plaza kiosk, couldn't even tell whether the figures were supposed to be human. "I don't know what it is. They look like toads," Baker said. "Really, really weird."
The Greek press was also critical.
"Unfortunately, it's too late to ask for their withdrawal," an Athens newspaper, the Express, told readers according to the Reuters news service. "Two vague figures . . . with big feet but without character, fighting spirit, spirituality or feeling."
Another daily newspaper suggested the crudely drawn boy and girl, a brother and sister named for the god of light and the protectress of Athens, resembled cartoon characters from "The Simpsons."
The pair made their debut Thursday, during a visit from the International Olympic Committee's oversight commission. Athens has been criticized for lagging behind on preparations for 2004.
The head of the IOC commission, Denis Oswald of Switzerland, acknowledged not everyone will like the mascots. "Personally, I like the mascots very much because they create the link between the past, the history of the country and the present times," he said.
That was the whole point, designer Spyros Gogos said. "We thought by reaching back into the history of Greece we could combine ancient Greek elements with the modern concept of a toy."
The inspiration was an ancient bell-shaped doll made of terra-cotta, modeled after a fertility symbol. That's quite a departure from where the Salt Lake Organizing Committee looked for its popular mascots — Utah's native animal population.
"SLOC created various mascot designs that represented the indigenous animals of Utah," Shannon McCarthy, a SLOC spokeswoman, said. The hare, bear and coyote were announced in May 1999, after two years of market research.
She didn't have a lot to say about the Greeks' choice. "Like SLOC, Athens wanted to select mascots that represented their country's heritage. We wish them all the best luck in the future."
Martin Sierra, a pin trader from Los Angeles here for the Games, said it's probably only a matter of time before "Phevos" and "Athena" have a following. "Many times, it seems mascots are not accepted right away," he said. "Eventually, they just grow on the public."
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