European Athletics (EAA) – News – Meet the European Athletics Junior Championships mascots: Citi, Alti, Forti

The mascots for the European Athletics Junior Championships Tallinn 2011 will be known as Citi, Alti and Forti.

The mascots, three fun and athletic stars, each have their own specific talent: the yellow star Citi is a great runner, the orange star Alti is a talented jumper and the blue star Forti is a throwing champion.

A nationwide search to find names for the mascots was launched by the organisers in cooperation with Estonia’s largest news and entertainment portal Delfi.ee. The contest was open to all, inviting people to propose names for all three mascots.

The five name combinations with most votes went straight to the final, with the other five finalists chosen by athletics sponsors.

The name combination Citi, Alti, Forti was announced as the winner by the five-person jury consisting of Olympic champion Erki Nool, renowned sports journalist Anu Säärits, Estonian Athletics Association President Erich Teigamägi, young artist Helene Vettik and winner of the first Estonian “Pop Idol” Birgit Õigemeel.

The contest winner was Jaak V, the only person to nominate Citi, Alti and Forti. The winning names are derived from the Latin phrase “citius, altius, fortius” ("faster, higher, stronger") which has a strong historical association with athletics.

The 2011 European Athletics Junior Championships will be held in Tallinn, Estonia, on July 21-24.

For more information, visit www.tallinn2011.org/en.

European Athletics (EAA) – News