For every major international tournament, there is a mascot that acts as the face of the tournament throughout the course of the event. Olympics has delivered some of the best mascots we have seen and the mascot for Beijing Olympics 2008, Fuwa, was a major hit. However, it looks the like the mascot for Rio Olympics 2016, Vinicius and Tom, will gain more fans than Fuwa.
The mascots were first revealed on November 23, 2014, without a name and the names were later decided by public vote on December 14, 2014.
Vinicius is the official mascot of Olympics and he was named after the famous Brazilian musician Vinicius de Moraes who is renowned for composing his own bossa nova music. The Olympic mascot is a mixture of all the famous Brazilian animals and was born out of joy on 2nd October 2009, when Rio was announced as the host of Olympic games.
According to the fictional bio of Vinicius, it can play all sports, has several super powers and lives in a tree house in Tijuca forest.
Tom, on the other hand, is the mascot for the Paralympic Games. Tom is a magical creature born after the fusion of various plants in the Brazilian forests and like Vinicius, he too was born on 2nd October 2009 out of joy. He is named after famous Brazilian musician Antonio Carlos Jobim who was also known as Tom Jobim.
Tom is capable of playing all Paralympic sports and knows all the secrets of nature. He also likes taking a nap on a water lily in the middle of a refreshing lake.
The official mascots were created by a Sao Paulo-based design and animation firm named Birdo which has won numerous international awards.
As a part of the promotion campaign, a cartoon featuring the mascots was aired on Cartoon Network on August 5, 2015. In addition, Lego made the official mascots of Olympics for the very first time and this Lego kit is part of the official merchandise of the mascots.
