Following a three-week online vote which ended on 14 December 2014, the public named the two mascots after Vinicius de Moraes and Antônio Carlos "Tom" Jobim, the co-writers of the 1962 bossa nova song "The Girl from Ipanema".

Plush dolls of Vinicius were provided to coaches during the Olympic wrestling events to throw into the ring when they wished to challenge a referee's call, a practice many observers found humorous.

Tenders to create the mascots of the 2016 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were requested in November 2012.

[3] The Rio 2016 organizers sent the agencies involved a list of 17 guidelines, among which were: ... the mascots need to reflect the local culture, but must also be universally understood; they should be aligned with the brand direction of the Rio 2016 logos and with the values of the Olympic and Paralympic movements; they must represent universal values, such as friendship, respect and fair play; they must speak to children in particular, but also resonate with adults.

[2] The organizers selected three proposed mascot designs and subjected them to a perception survey with children aged six to twelve in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

[3] There were three candidates in the vote: On 24 November 2014,[8] the mascots appeared publicly in costumes for the first time at the Ginásio Experimental Olímpico Juan Antonio Samaranch, a school in Rio motivated by the 2016 Summer Olympics and established for talented young athletes.

[12][13] During the 2016 Olympic wrestling events, the organizers provided coaches with soft plush dolls of Vinicius to throw into the ring when they wished to challenge a call.

[15][16][12] Luke Meredith, a writer for the Associated Press, wrote that it "has already led to a few amusing moments where a coach, enraged with a call gone against his wrestler, had to reach for a tiny stuffed animal and fling it across the mat to get the referee's attention.

[13] Coach Mike Malinconico argued that the practice does not belong at the Olympic Games, stating, "The fate of one of my athletes who has been training for this specific moment for four years hangs in the balance of a referee's error.

"[25] Although the series is targeted towards children, Sylmara Multini, Director of Licensing and Retail for the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee, stated that it will attract adults too.

[27] During the Paralympic events, medalists received stuffed toys of Tom, with the leaves on the dolls' heads colored in gold, silver, or bronze to correspond with their medals.

[30] Julia Glum, in an article in the International Business Times, wrote that the "mascot for the Olympic Games is almost always strange-looking, and Rio de Janeiro is no exception.

[32] However, Charlotte Wilder, a writer on USA Today's sports column For The Win, was unimpressed by Vinicius's design, stating, "Whoever was in charge of coming up with this creature of the huge hands and feet did exactly what it looks like, which is mash up a bunch of animals, video game characters, and cartoons, stuff it with some synthetic filling, and call it day.

"[33] Robert John Young, Professor of Wildlife Conservation at the University of Salford, criticized Rio 2016 for failing to capitalize on environmental protection by "inventing" mascots, rather than using actual animal species.

[36] Neha Prakash, writing on digital media website Mashable, wrote that, compared to the "terror" of the mascots of the 2014 Winter Olympics, Vinicius and Tom "are more nostalgia-inducing than nightmarish".

"[39] Leila Cobo, in an article published by Billboard, praised the organizers of Rio 2016 for "celebrating music in a most joyful and profound way" by naming the Olympic mascot after Vinicius de Moraes.