The mascots are two snow leopards - Itil (boy) and Alsu (girl). In the context of the Championships, this animal symbolises skill, swiftness and power.
The male name, Itil, is the medieval name of the Volga River, and it is still used in the Kazakh, Chuvash, Tatar, Bashkir, Kalmyk and Mongolian languages. The female name, Alsu, is the common Tatar name meaning ‘pink-coloured water’ or figuratively ‘rosy cheeks’, which is strongly connected with the idea of water, aquatic sports and a healthy lifestyle.
A nationwide competition was held to choose the best mascot design for the event. Throughout one month all citizens of Russia had been sending in their own visions of a mascot which was to become an embodiment of
- sports
- youth
- water sports
- our country’s rich traditions
Entries were submitted by representatives of different regions of Russia, among them professional designers, schoolchildren, students and sports enthusiasts.
Given that the majority of concepts were identical, the contest organisers decided to make a shortlist of mascot designs and put forward the best graphic representations to the public online vote on the official Kazan 2015 website.
More than 3,000 votes have been cast within one week. The snow leopard was chosen as the People's Choice winner. Upon completion of the competition, the initial design was finalised. The mascots’ names were chosen via polling the Directorate employees and volunteers. When choosing the mascots’ names, the organisers kept in mind such criteria as uniqueness, clarity of perception, ease of memorisation, national colour and the ways the names are pronounced in different languages, which is particularly important for the international event.
