Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox character Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat was an unofficial mascot of the 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.<ref name="cougar">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="strategic">Template:Cite web</ref> Fatso is a wombat with a lazy, cheerful expression and comically pronounced rump. He usually appeared on The Dream broadcasts, sometimes as a life-size stuffed toy on Roy and HG's desk.
Fatso was a spoof of the official Olympic mascots Olly, Millie, and Syd, whom Roy & HG disparaged as "Syd, Ollie & Dickhead".<ref name="worker">Template:Cite journal</ref> He was nicknamed "the battlers' prince" and proved to be more popular among Australian fans of the duo (and some visitors who viewed the program) than the official mascots.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Fatso appeared with gold medalists Susie O'Neill, Grant Hackett and the Australian men's 4×200-metre relay team on the winners' dais.<ref name="cougar" /><ref name="strategic" /> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During the Olympics, the Australian Olympic Committee attempted to ban athletes appearing with Fatso to stop him upstaging their official mascots.<ref name="strategic" /> The ensuing 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.<ref name="cougar" /><ref name="smh1">Template:Cite news</ref>
In keeping with Fatso's role as a protest against the commercialisation of Olympic mascots,<ref name="worker" /> only two Fatso plushes were officially produced: one for use in the studio and the other for use in the athletes' village.<ref name="cougar" /> At the end of the Olympics, one of the Fatso plushes was auctioned for the Olympic Aid charity, selling for A$80,450 to Seven Network executive chairman Kerry Stokes. It is currently housed in a glass box in Kerry Stokes' North Sydney office.<ref name="smh1" /> A number of unofficial Fatso toys and memorabilia were sold by merchants without authorisation from the producers of The Dream.<ref>Fatso the Wombat Online: THE Unofficial Fatso FanclubTemplate:Cbignore, Pandora Archive, National Library of Australia, archived 2000-11-20</ref><ref>Fatso the Wombat Online: THE Unofficial Fatso Fanclub Tee-Shirt order formTemplate:Cbignore, Pandora Archive, National Library of Australia, archived 2000-11-20</ref>
A statue of Fatso appeared as part of an official Olympic memorial outside the Sydney Olympic Stadium, commemorating the volunteers who worked during the Olympics.<ref name="smh1" /> The Fatso statue was vandalised in late September 2010, then stolen sometime before 8 October 2010.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The stolen statue was replaced in 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>