BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Brisbane 2032 Olympic officials were forced to hold a quickly-organized media conference on Saturday to explain the accidental leaking of an Olympic and Paralympic emblem three days ahead of schedule.
An explainer video meant to go live after a planned ceremonial event on Monday briefly appeared on the event’s YouTube channel on Friday night. Screenshots of images and text soon circulated on social media.
Government official Tim Mander and Brisbane 2032 chief marketing officer Brent Hill suggested the accidental release was a pleasant surprise.
“This is the culmination of a really exciting week,” said Mander, the Olympic and Paralymic minister. "This is an incredibly exciting milestone as we head to 2032.”
Hill said it was a case of making the most of an unexpected opportunity — "the publicity has been incredible.”
The Olympic emblem is the crest of a pink cockatoo, an inland Australian bird, with the color stylized to resemble an Olympic and Paralympic flame.
It follows a staged unveiling this week around Queensland state regional centers, ahead of what was planned to be the official reveal on Monday in Brisbane.
Speculation as to the identity of the emblem was encouraged, with athletes suggesting it could be anything from a crocodile’s tail to a mango. Former Olympic and Paralympic stars such as swimmer Ian Thorpe and cyclist Anna Meares took part in the staged reveal.
Hill admitted the Games committee would have preferred the unveiling to have proceeded as planned.
“If we had our time over, maybe there’s different ways we could have done it,” he said, adding that there was more to come at Monday’s official unveiling.
See AP’s full sports coverage here
FILE - Former Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe, right, sits in the crowd at the Australian Open tennis championships in Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022, in Melbourne, Australia. (AP Photo/Hamish Blair,File)
