Seoul 1988 - NBC Feature on Hodori (09.19.1988) скачать в хорошем качестве

Seoul 1988 - NBC Feature on Hodori (09.19.1988)

Copyright (c) 1988 National Broadcasting Company The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially called the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were celebrated in the South Korean capital of Seoul from 17 September to 2 October 1988. Being the second Summer Olympics to be held in Asia after Tokyo 1964, 159 nations were represented by a total of 8,391 athletes with 237 medal events were held in 23 sports and 31 disciplines. But however, neighbouring North Korea boycotted the event, and was joined by Cuba, Ethiopia and Nicaragua, nonetheless, the much larger boycotts seen in the three previous Olympiads were avoided, resulting in the largest number of participating nations during the Cold War era. Following the previous year's declaration of national democracy, and the holding of free and fair presidential elections in 16 years, this Olympiad provided the impetus for South Korea to embrace democracy while representing a chance for the nation to take a big step forward into the international community. These Games were held at the time of the so-called 'Miracle on the Han River' - a period that sought South Korea transform itself from one of the poorest countries in the world following the end of the Korean War to an economic power in East Asia, if not, one of the world's richest today. Copying the exact model from the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, as a rite of passage for the Japanese economy and re-integration of Japan in the family of nations in the post-war era, the South Korean government hoped to use the 1988 Games as a "coming-out party"; the Seoul Olympics gave a powerful impetus to the development of the country's relations with Eastern Europe, the USSR and with China. — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — The mascot for the Seoul Olympiad is an amur tiger named Hodori, and it is said that he portrays the friendly and hospitable traditions of the Korean people. Hodori appears to wear the Olympic rings around his neck, and on his head is a typical traditional Korean hat, called the Sangmo, which is worn by folk dancers during a Pungmul (풍물) performance. Seoul's organizing committee, SLOOC, set up a contest between September and October 1982 to select the mascot designs, which generated more than 4,300 entries. The most promising candidates were four animals: a rabbit, a squirrel, a tiger, and a pair of mandarin ducks. In 1983, SLOOC finally decided in favour of the tiger, whose tradition, popularity and symbolism among the Korean people had a massive influence on his election. But he was not named until in 1984, when 'Hodori' - a portmanteau of 'Ho' (호) from the Korean word for 'tiger' ('horangi', 호랑이) and 'Dori' (돌이), a common Korean diminutive for males - is picked ahead of more than 2,000 other entries submitted by the public.