ROME — Cartoon characters named Neve and Gliz, representing a ball of snow and a block of ice, are the mascots for the 2006 Turin Olympics.
Their debut Tuesday came 500 days before the games are to begin.
Skiing great Alberto Tomba was among the Italian winter sports champions at the ceremony. A panel of judges selected Neve, who is red and represents snow, and Gliz, sky blue and symbolizing ice, from more than 200 entrants. The two appeared in a cartoon animation before puppets of the characters hopped onto the stage, dancing and kissing guests.
Pedro Albuquerque, the Portuguese designer of the characters, said they were "meant to represent Olympic values like friendship, fair play and the spirit of competition."
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge repeatedly has urged Turin organizers to show a sense of urgency in their preparations to avoid the last-minute rush of the Athens Games.
Organizers said preparations are on track. Turin chief organizer Valentino Castellani said the Olympic sites are almost ready, and venues will be tested at international events beginning in January 2005. Among them are the European short-track speed skating championships on Jan. 14-15, and the European figure skating championships on Jan. 24-30.
The IOC has expressed concern about the pace of venue construction, shortage of accommodations and lukewarm support from the Italian government, media and sponsors.
Castellani said Tuesday that 18,000 people had volunteered for the Turin Games.
"We still have 500 days, which are the most difficult but also the most exalting," Castellani said. "Everyone shares the same objective, to hold an extraordinary games."
YAO WON'T ENDORSE COACH'S IDEA: Yao Ming believes his teammates on the Chinese national team need to get stronger and smarter in order to compete for a medal at the 2008 Olympics, though he wouldn't go so far as to endorse the solution offered by Del Harris. Harris, who coached China to an eighth-place finish at the Athens Olympics, said the Chinese basketball federation needs to allow its best players to compete in the European Leagues over the next four years to prepare for the level of competition they'll face in the Olympics.
The matter is a touchy subject in China, with the national federation eager to improve the country's standing in international basketball but not wanting to dilute the quality of the Chinese Basketball Association.
Given a chance Tuesday to agree or disagree with Harris, Yao took a diplomatic stance.
"The CBA is thinking of ways to deal with that so that everyone is happy," the 7-foot-6 center said during an interview to promote his autobiography: "Yao: A Life in Two Worlds."
"The thing we need to change the most right now is a lot of players play too casually. It's a bad habit," Yao said. "It was something you could see a lot of times. Next to scoring as the highest statistic on a player's line would be turnovers, not rebounds or assists."
China matched its best Olympic finish by coming in eighth at the Athens Games, the highlight a one-point victory over the defending world champions from Serbia-Montenegro in the final game of the opening round — a win that Harris called the most rewarding of his 45-year coaching career.
DECISION CRITICIZED: The Russian Cycling Federation criticized the IOC's decision to drop its doping probe of gold medalist Tyler Hamilton, who edged a Russian rider in the time trial at the Athens Games. An initial test led to suspicions Hamilton had used a blood transfusion to boost his endurance. But the International Olympic Committee abandoned its probe last week because the American's backup specimen mistakenly was frozen and there weren't enough red blood cells left to analyze. Hamilton still faces a possible two-year ban over a separate positive blood test at the Spanish Vuelta two weeks after the Olympics.
Hamilton insists he is innocent and has vowed to clear his name. But Russian federation president Alexander Gusyatnikov told the Sport Express newspaper that the blood test results at the Olympics and the Spanish race point to wrongdoing by Hamilton.
If Hamilton had been stripped of the Olympic gold medal, it would have gone to Viatcheslav Ekimov.
LONDON BID BACKED: London's campaign for the 2012 Summer Olympics received a high-profile boost at the governing Labour Party's annual conference Tuesday. Prime Minister Tony Blair's government said it was wholly committed to holding the games in the British capital. London is one of five cities bidding for the games, along with Paris, New York, Madrid and Moscow. The International Olympic Committee will select the host city in Singapore next July.