Tokyo 2020 Olympics organisers said Tuesday they have received more than 14,500 suggestions for a new logo after the original choice was withdrawn because of a plagiarism scandal. The organising committee in August dropped the emblem put forward by Japanese designer Kenjiro Sano following allegations it too closely resembled that of a theatre in the Belgian city of Liege created by designer Olivier Debie.
"We've received 14,599 applications," Ryohei Miyata, head of the Tokyo 2020 emblem committee and dean of Tokyo University of the Arts, told reporters a day after Monday's deadline. Among them, 12,900 came from individuals and 1,699 were submitted by groups including primary schoolchildren.
"The age range is from less than 12 months in age to a 107-year-old," Miyata said, without elaborating on any of the designs. "We were delighted to receive such a huge number of applications." Organisers said they had improved the transparency of the selection process by allowing anyone to make a submission rather than the small group of professional designers before. The decision followed criticism that the scandal-hit design had been approved behind closed doors.