Australian boxing kangaroo flag wins bout against IOC

A large Australian team flag depicting a boxing kangaroo will remain hanging from the athletes' village after an agreement between Australian team officials and the International Olympic Committee.

"The IOC is not going to request us to take down the boxing kangaroo on this occasion," Australian Olympic Committee chief John Coates told reporters on Sunday. "But we will need to register the boxing kangaroo with the IOC as our third identification," he said.

Coates, who is also an IOC executive board member, said he had met IOC chief Jacques Rogge and assured him the team was not trying to ambush Games organisers or the IOC with a commercial product.

Rogge told him it would be necessary to register it as a team symbol before using it in the future.

"It has not been a problem in the past but the world has moved on and so must we," said Coates.

The dispute had developed into a minor international incident in the last few days after an IOC official had asked the AOC to take down the flag because it bears a registered trademark and is a commercial property.

But the AOC had said the flag, which depicts a yellow kangaroo wearing red boxing gloves, was a symbol of the country's fighting spirit and would only consider taking it down if a written request came from the IOC.

The boxing kangaroo first appeared on the Australian sporting scene in 1983 when Alan Bond and his crew waved the flag on the way to winning the America's Cup yachting race.

Bond later sold the trademarked image to the AOC.