Rio 2016 Mascots Are Baptized Vinicius and Tom
The popular vote had 323,327 valid votes. The second choices were "Oba and Eba" and "Tiba Tuque and Esquidim".
This Monday, December 15th, the official names of the mascots of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games were announced. With 44% of the valid votes, the public chose to honor two of the biggest names of the Brazilian culture, the bossa nova composers and icons, Vinicius and Tom. There were 323,327 votes cast during the three weeks of voting. The other two options names were "Oba and Eba" and "Tiba Tuque and Esquidim".
"The choice of Tom and Vinicius makes our mascots look even more Brazilian and they are real ambassadors of the Games", considers Beth Lula, Brand Director of the Rio 2016 Committee.
"They have the role to spread the event’s message as well as the values of Olympic and Paralympic movements to various audiences, especially to children and young people."
Vinicius, the Olympic mascot, represents the Brazilian fauna and its diversity, while Tom, the Paralympic mascot, is the wealth of the tupiniquim flora. They’ve got even an "ID card" with their name, place of birth, nationality and date of birth.
