BBC Rio. Survival of the fittest. We dramatised the competitiveness of the games in a fun and surprising way. Instead of human athletes we created surprising animal athletes. A jaguar became a sprinter, caimans became synchronised divers, an anteater became a hammer thrower, a sloth became a gymnast. These characters were then used in a series of motion graphic films online and on TV – shown at the beginning of every BBC broadcast of the Olympics.

Each social film was painstakingly animated. Their animated movements were crafted to become human; the armadillo claps its hands in chalk before attempting to weightlift, the jaguar cracks its neck before forming up on the starting blocks.

Each animal’s behaviour was modelled on a real athlete’s. Weightlifter Hossein Rezazadeh from Iran became the inspiration for the Armadillo. From his shaking legs to the exact speed, breathing patterns and manoeuvre of his ‘Clean and Press’, we replicated every facet of athlete’s behaviour in the final animation. We celebrated the inspiration behind each animation on social media.

The films have been viewed millions of times on social media and on BBC iPlayer online. The animal characters were so popular on Facebook that the BBC commissioned TV idents for BBC1 and BBC4 that featured them.