Second European Games in Belarus

MINSK, 29 November (BelTA) – Lesik the Baby Fox has been announced as the official mascot for the 2nd European Games MINSK 2019, BelTA has learned.

The presentation event was attended by Star Ambassadors of the 2nd European Games Dr. Rashed Mustafa Sarwar, Olympic canoeing champion Alexander Bogdanovich, representatives of foreign diplomatic missions, ministries and departments, famous athletes, representatives of show business and partners of the games, residents of children's SOS villages and volunteer candidates.

Lesik’s story combines elements of the world’s famous novel Little Prince and the Belarusian mythology. In the fairytale the Fox taught Little Prince how to be real friends. However, when the Little Prince left him, the Fox wanted to make new friends. It took a lot of time to find new friends. He had to listen a lot which made his ears grow noticeably larger. Once he learned that there was a flower that fulfills all desires: the legendary Belarusian Fern the Flower. The Fox went to Belarus to find it and have his dream come true. The journey was long. He had to take a million steps which his fitness tracker recorded.

Lesik wears shorts and a T-shirt, a baseball cap that has the slogan of the 2nd European Games. The colors correspond to the spirit of the games: black symbolizes determination, yellow - cheerfulness, green - development, blue - invincibility, and red - energy.

Organizers received around 2,000 works, Anatoly Kotov, Deputy CEO of the Minsk European Games Organizing Committee (MEGOC), told the media. “After we selected the final options, we had professional artists work on them for six more months. I believe the mascot will keep everyone entertained during the games. I want the Baby Fox to become a true friend to the fans around the world,” Anatoly Kotov said.

Belarus First Deputy Information Minister Pavel Legky added that both children and professional artists took part in the contest. “We received about 500 works from Minsk, 1,500 from the regions of our country, and even from Uzbekistan and Egypt,” he said.

Lesik has his Instagram account Lesik_2019.

Minsk will host the 2nd European Games on 21-30 June 2019. Over 4,000 athletes will compete in 200 medal events in 15 sports. Competitions in 10 sports will serve as qualifiers for the Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo.