A surfer is among the suggestions as a mascot for Gold Coast 2018 ©Getty Images

Olympic gold medallists Matthew Mitcham, Natalie Cook and Giaan Rooney will be among the guests when Gold Coast 2018 officially unveils the identity of its mascot for the Commonwealth Games at a special ceremony on Monday (April 4).

Samantha Jade, a former winner of The X Factor Australia, will also be present at the community celebration on Burleigh Heads Beach due to be televised live by Channel Seven's Sunrise programme. 

The event is being timed to coincide with two years to go until the start of the Games.

The mascot is due to be presented to the public at approximately 7.30am on the Gold Coast.

It has been chosen as the result of a design competition launched by Gold Coast 2018 in June last year.

The competition received more than 4,000 hand written entries.

"We are guarding this secret with our life until Monday’s unveiling,” a Gold Coast 2018 spokesman told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

“Gold Coasters are going to love it because the mascot reaches out to the entire world.”

Karak, a south-eastern red-tailed black cockatoo, was the mascot the last time Australia hosted the Commonwealth Games at Melbourne in 2006 ©Getty Images
Karak, a south-eastern red-tailed black cockatoo, was the mascot the last time Australia hosted the Commonwealth Games at Melbourne in 2006 ©Getty Images

A poll conducted by the Gold Coast Bulletin found suggestions for the mascot ranging from bikini-clad women or surfers shredding the waves to a marine animal or lifesaver. 

Whatever is chosen will be joining a family that stretches back to Edmonton 1978 when Keyano, a grizzly bear, became the first Commonwealth Games mascot.

Mascots at previous Commonwealth Games hosted in Australia have been a kangaroo called Matilda at Brisbane 1982 and Karak, a south-eastern red-tailed black cockatoo, at Melbourne 2006.

Other mascots have included a scottie dog at Edinburgh 1986, a Kiwi at Auckland 1990, a killer whale at Victoria 1988, an orangutan at Kuala Lumpur 1998, a cat at Manchester 2002 and a tiger at Delhi 2010.

Glasgow 2014 became the first Commonwealth Games to choose a mascot that was not representative of an animal when they had the hugely popular Clyde, a thistle.