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Side view of "Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat" as he appears on top of a
pole outside Sydney's
Stadium Australia.
Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat was an unofficial mascot of the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics created by
Sydney cartoonist Paul Newell with Roy and HG from the Australian Channel Seven sports/comedy television
program The Dream with Roy and
HG, which covered the event.[1][2]
He took the form of a life-size stuffed toy wombat with a lazy, cheerful expression and
comically pronounced rump, and usually appeared on The
Dream broadcasts on Roy and HG's desk.
Fatso was a spoof of the official Olympic mascots Syd,
Ollie and Millie, whom Roy & HG disparaged as "Syd, Ollie and
Dickhead".[3]
He was nicknamed "the battlers' prince"
and proved to be more popular among Australian fans (and some
visitors who viewed the program) than the official mascots.[4] Fatso
appeared with Gold Medalists Susie O'Neill, Grant Hackett and the Australian men's
4×200 metre relay team on the winners' dais.[1][2]
He consequently appears on an official commemorative postage stamp of
the Australian men's 4×200 metre relay team in the arms of Michael Klim (second
from the right).[5] During
the Olympics the Australian Olympic
Committee attempted to ban athletes appearing with Fatso to
stop him upstaging their official mascots.[2]
The impending public relations disaster forced the president of the
AOC, John Coates, and the director general of the IOC, Francois Carrard,
to distance their organisations from these attempts.[6][1]
At the end of the Olympics, Fatso was auctioned for the Olympic
Aid charity, selling for AU$80,450 to Seven Network executive chairman Kerry Stokes. Fatso
is currently housed in a glass box in Kerry Stokes's North Sydney
office.[6]
In keeping with Fatso's role as a protest against the
commercialization of Olympic mascots,[3]
only two Fatsos were officially produced: one for use in the studio
and the other for use in the athletes' village.[1]
A number of unofficial Fatso toys and memorabilia were sold by
merchants without authorization from the producers of The
Dream.[7][8] A
statue of Fatso appears as part of an official Olympic memorial
outside the Sydney Olympic Stadium.[6]
References
- ^ a
b
c
d
Jim Parsons (2000-09-26). "'Fat-arsed' wombat mascot
causes uproar in Australia". The Daily Cougar. http://www.stp.uh.edu/vol66/26/sports/sports3.html. Retrieved
2006-04-11.
- ^ a
b
c
"The Rise of Fatso - The Fat
Arsed Sydney Olympics Wombat". Strategic Resources
International. February 2001. http://www.strategicresources.com.au/fatso.html. Retrieved
2006-04-11.
- ^ a
b
Marr, Jim (2000-12-08). "Satire: Roy Slaven on the
Rampage". Workers Online (81).
http://workers.labor.net.au/81/d_review_roy.html. Retrieved
2006-06-30.
- ^
Singer, Jill (2006-03-30). "Is John So still our
bro?". Herald Sun Sunday. http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,18646788%255E5000107,00.html. Retrieved
2006-04-11.
- ^
Reuters (2000-09-22). "'Groin gags, anti-mascot
fatso lift Aussie duo to cult". indiavarta.com. http://www.indiavarta.com/Olympics/FullStory.asp?id=OLF20000922043126&eTitle=Olympics+%2D+Fun+and+Colour&rLink=0. Retrieved
2007-03-21.
- ^ a
b
c
Browne, Rachel (2004-07-18). "Roy, HG leave Fatso
home". Sun Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/17/1089694613537.html. Retrieved
2006-06-30.
- ^
Fatso the Wombat Online: THE
Unofficial Fatso Fanclub, Pandora Archive, National Library of
Australia, archived 2000-11-20
- ^
Fatso the Wombat Online: THE
Unofficial Fatso Fanclub Tee-Shirt order form, Pandora Archive,
National Library of Australia, archived 2000-11-20
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