Brain behind 2022 mascot so proud of team's prize panda

Cao Xue has endured the proverbial roller coaster of emotions since learning his team's design was selected as the mascot for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

After months of toil and sleepless nights, there were tears of joy on Aug 21 when Cao was told that cute cartoon panda Bing Dwen Dwen had beaten around 6,000 submissions to be the symbolic face of the Beijing Games.

But after being sworn to secrecy until the design was officially unveiled on Sept 17, Cao admitted the wait to tell everyone the exciting news was excruciating.