BEIJING, Nov 11: Beijing unveiled five mascots for the 2008 Olympic Games in an elaborate ceremony Friday, 1,000 days ahead of the opening ceremony of the world’s most prestigious sporting event.

In a nationally televised program beamed live from Tiananmen Square and the Capital Gymnasium, the five cartoon characters were presented by Chinese Communist Party Politiburo member Jia Qinglin.

The colorful mascots include a traditional Chinese doll, a panda bear, a Tibetan antelope, a Beijing swallow and a “fish child.”

The names of the characters spelt out “Beijing Welcomes You” in Chinese.

The mascots will be at the center of the marketing drive for the upcoming games, officials said.

During the 2004 Athens Olympics sales of the Games’ mascot brought in some 201 million dollars, while at the 2000 Sydney Games mascot sales were worth about 213 million dollars, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Host cities keep 10 to 15 percent of the royalties, helping to defray the costs of staging the Games.

Beijing is planning a “frugal Games,” with an operating budget of some 1.61 billion dollars and projected revenues amounting to some 1.625 billion dollars, generating an expected 15 million to 16 million dollar profit, officials said.

The mascot naming came as the International Olympic Committee held its fifth coordination commission meeting with Beijing organizers.

“We have been able to confirm the excellent efforts being made by BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee) and the Chinese authorities to ensure the sports competitions will be held in the best possible conditions,” said Hein Verbruggen, head of the IOC coordination committee.

“With the work being done to serve the athletes progressing so well, we have also been able to carefully consider the other aspects that will make the Olympic Games here special.”

China was in 2001 awarded the rights to host the 2008 Olympics, giving Beijing seven years to prepare the games.

“We are pleased to have been able to report good progress to the IOC as we aim to deliver high level Games with distinguishing features,” said the BOCOG executive chairman and Beijing’s highest leader Liu Qi.—AFP