In a formal complaint to the International Olympic Committee, Tehran has called for the graphic to be replaced and its designers "confronted", warning that Iranian athletes might otherwise be ordered to stay away from the London Games. According to the state-backed Iranian Students News Agency, which is frequently used to convey official pronouncements, the letter says:
"As internet documents have proved, using the word Zion in the logo of the 2012 Olympic Games is a disgracing action and against the Olympics' valuable mottos. There is no doubt that negligence of the issue from your side may affect the presence of some countries in the Games, especially Iran which abides by commitment to the values and principles." The letter, from the country's national Olympic committee, leaves unclear what "internet documents" it is referring to.
Amid the popular uproar that accompanied the unveiling of the logo in 2007, there were some claims, particularly on conspiracy-oriented websites, that its constituent shapes could be rearranged to make the world "Zion". An IOC official confirmed that the Iranian letter had been received but said: "The London 2012 logo represents the figure 2012, nothing else." A spokesman for the London Olympic organising committee added: "It was launched in 2007 following testing and consultation. We are surprised that this complaint has been made now."
10 comments:
There's a word in Finnish, myötähäpeä, which means the sympathetic shame you feel for someone who doesn't seem to have the sense to be ashamed*. A government that acts like the looniest of conspiracy theorists and throws an international tantrum because of it makes me feel myötähäpeä for Iran.
But really, who would even care if Iran boycotted the games?
* Is there a corresponding word or phrase in English?
srsly? this is grasping at straws in order to be "offended". The tail is now wagging the dog.
I'm British and the logo offends me! It's pathetic! If it did not have the 5 Olympic rings and the word "london" (can’t even be bothered to get London right) on it, I defy anyone to understand it. This mess apparently cost £400,000 to produce and took some retard called Wolff Olins nearly a year to design. Was he on drugs? More to the point, which bunch of morons thought it was value for money and accepted it? If this was the best of the submissions, all the others must have been designed by some kindergarten class.
Patty, I think the word London and the Olympic rings are kind of the point. If you remember, Beijing olympics logo was just stick figure, the name and the rings made it an Olympic logo.
Ratz: What has seen cannot be unseen. Thanks.
The number 2012 can itself be rearranged to spell Zion, if in "rearranging" we include rotating individual characters, which is what Ahmadi and his fellow haters are doing here. So, really, they should be offended by the very existence of next year and should act quickly to make sure they're not around for it.
If it's supposed to say "2012", what's the extra dot for?
Dearth of decent graphic designers in the UK, eh?
That's a stretch. But if Iran doesn't want to come then they can please themselves.
I bet kindergarten kids could make a better logo
the number '2' looks like a 'Z' on any font, so '2012' can easily become a 'z01z', then from there just swap the middle 'z10z' becoming ZION.
No matter what country hosted the 2012 games or what the logo looked like, Iran would of shouted accused of Zion conspiracies....it was inevitable
I can't figure out what the extra dot is for either. There is no dot in 2012.
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