Host Nanjing unveils 2020 World Indoor Athletics Championships emblem

As the host of the 2020 World Indoor Athletics Championships, the Chinese city Nanjing unveiled the official emblem and slogan for the event on Wednesday to celebrate the 100-day countdown to the biennial meet.

Scheduled from March 13-15, the indoor world championships will provide a major test ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for the world's top track and field stars in 13 events in the capital of East China's Jiangsu province.

It will be the second major international track and field meet held in China following the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing.

Preparations for the event are progressing well with construction of the championships' main venue, a dedicated indoor track and field arena named "Nanjing's Cube", completed recently, according to the organizing committee.

At a ceremony to mark the 100-day countdown, the organizing committee on Wednesday unveiled the event's slogan "Nanjing's Cube, Where Athletes Dream", a phrase that will be promoted during the event to encourage athletes from around the world to pursue their athletic dreams starting from the cube-shaped venue in Nanjing.

"Sport, as a common language of mankind, serves as an important bridge connecting Nanjing and the world," said Liu Tong, deputy secretary-general of the championships' organizing committee, during the Wednesday ceremony at Nanjing's mass fitness center.

"The World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 2020 will be a gala that belongs to Nanjing, China, and the whole world. It will showcase Nanjing's image as an innovative, dynamic city of sports, and the sportsmanship of athletes all over the world," said Liu, also a deputy director of Jiangsu provincial sports bureau.

The official emblem for the event was also introduced to the public on Wednesday. Based on the new W-shaped logo of World Athletics, formerly known as IAAF, the international governing body of track and field, the Nanjing 2020 emblem features the image of an athlete leaping over a set of hurdles integrated by the city's modern landmarks, ancient city wall and running tracks, which form the initial letters "N" and "J" of Nanjing.

The emblem, colored in purple and orange, demonstrates the strength and beauty of the sport while symbolizing Nanjing's unremitting pursuit of leapfrog development, said organizers.

As part of the final preparation for the event, the organizing committee also launched a global design competition for the official mascot of the championships on Wednesday. Individual designers or institutions are welcome to submit their design proposals via official email to marketing@worldathleticsnanjing2020.com by the deadline of Dec 20.

The mascot shall be a single cartoon image or the combination of maximum two. The design shall represent the value of athletics while symbolizing Nanjing's local characteristics, culture and history, according to the organizing committee.