Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat
Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat ( German Fatso, the big-assed wombat ) was the unofficial mascot of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney . Fatso is a derogatory term for an overweight person in the English-speaking world.
Emergence
Fatso was designed by Paul Newell, who previously worked as a draftsman for Walt Disney . The client was the Australian television channel Channel Seven , on which the allusive satirical show The Dream by comedians HG Nelson and Roy Slaven was broadcast during the Summer Olympics . Newell designed Fatso based on the model of a plush toy and created a wombat with a distinctly wide rear. Fatso quickly became known through the television show and won the sympathies of the audience.
A company in Melbourne made two “official” Fatso dolls. One was used in the television studio, the second was given to the Australian athletes in the Olympic Village.
Reactions
Fatso became the most popular mascot of the Summer Olympics among Australian audiences. Both Syd, Olly and Millie , the official mascots, as well as the figure of the Australian Olympic Committee , a boxing kangaroo, enjoyed far less popularity among the population, which for the organizers was particularly evident in the poor sales figures for merchandising items. The Australian swimmers Grant Hackett , Susie O'Neill and Michael Klim succeeded in taking Fatso onto the podium at their awards ceremony, which made the figure and the program The Dream even more popular.
News that the organizers of the Olympic Games wanted to ban the character Fatso and its appearance on official Olympic occasions were denied by the National Olympic Committee of Australia.
Others
One of the Fatso dolls was auctioned off at a charity auction after the Olympic Games. For over $ 80,000, Fatso was owned by Kerry Stokes, chairman of the Australian broadcaster Seven Network .
In front of the ANZ Stadium in the Sydney Olympic Park , a bronze sculpture of Fatso was placed on a pedestal, which was part of the Olympic memorial in memory of the Summer Games and those involved. After the sculpture initially fell victim to vandalism in September 2010, it disappeared without a trace around the beginning of October 2010 under unexplained circumstances.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Australia - The Sports Nation. australien-info.de, accessed on August 19, 2016 .
- ↑ Olympic mascot: Freak show of mythical creatures. Spiegel Online, August 5, 2008, accessed August 19, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c Jim Parsons: 'Fat-arsed' wombat mascot causes uproar in Australia. The Daily Cougar Sports online September 26, 2000, archived from the original May 8, 2005 ; Retrieved August 19, 2016 .
- ↑ Helmut Schümann: In the fifth ring: The kangaroo has jumped out. Der Tagesspiegel, September 25, 2000, accessed on November 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Rachel Browne: Roy, HG leave Fatso home. The Sydney Morning Herald, July 18, 2004, accessed August 19, 2016 .
- ↑ Fatso the Wombat goes wandering. news.com.au, October 8, 2010, accessed August 19, 2016 .