Businessman adopts '08 Olympics mascot

BEIJING, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- The object of admiration for a Norwegian businessman living in China is his adopted panda born to be the mascot for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Stein Frode Ertzeid, known in Norway for being the mentor of a local survival television show, paid $131,000 to adopt the panda named Jing Jing, Aftenposten reported.

Zhang Zhihe, director of the China Committee of Breeding Technique for Giant Pandas, said Ertzeid was selected over others to adopt Jing Jing because he said he didn't have a commercial motive.

The businessman "talked with us many times and moved us with his sincerity and love for giant pandas," Zhang said.

For his part, Ertzeid said he chose Jing Jing because she and her family represented the Olympic spirit.

"When we see athletes struggling to win in the Olympics, I want you to remember how Jing Jing and other endangered animals are struggling to survive," he told the People's Daily newspaper in China.