Meet Tom – the Rio 2016 Paralympic Mascot 

Meet Tom, the Paralympic mascot of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Tom is a unique mixture of the Brazilian flora, representing the diversity of the nature, culture and the people of Brazil. He is able to constantly transform with determination and joy, growing and overcoming obstacles. He is symbolic of the reinventive side of Paralympic athletes. In addition to practising Paralympic sports, he is constantly on the move. He believes there is no obstacle too hard to overcome and there is no problem without a solution. He can pull anything from his big head of leaves to solve even the hairiest of problems. As the ambassador of the Paralympic Games, he taught others to bring out their best. 

He can express his emotions through the little antennae on top of his head and he is a fan of Brazilian music: he loves shaking his leafy mane to the rhythm of traditional samba. With his friendly and active personality, he was the perfect cheerleader at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. 

Imagen

ⒸRio 2016/Mathilde Molla

Get to Know the Symbolism Behind Tom 

Birdo, an animation studio from Brazil, was selected to create the mascots for the Games from a national tender process that involved advertising, design, illustration and animation companies. Designed by Luciana Eguti and Paulo Muppet of Birdo Studio, Tom’s name was chosen by a public vote that lasted three weeks with 323,327 votes cast in total. 44 per cent of the votes were cast for the name “Tom”, as the Brazilian public decided to pay homage to Tom Jobim who is the composer of The Girl from Ipanema, a Brazilian bossa nova song that has reached worldwide fame. The Olympic counterpart to Tom is also named after a musician, the co-writer of The Girl from Ipanema, Vinicius de Moraes.