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Y&R London launched the campaign for the BBC’s coverage of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in August 2016. The campaign aims to excite, inform and inspire ahead of this year’s spectacle and is coupled with the BBC’s unrivalled editorial, multi-platform offering in the build-up and throughout the games.

The strength, agility and skill of Olympic athletes is absolutely astonishing. The sprinters explode from the blocks as fast as jaguars and the swimmers zip through the water like otters. It feels only fitting that the strength of the athletes is brought to life by the host nation’s exotic animals, against the backdrop of the luscious and vibrant Tijuca Rainforest, before they gradually transition to the human world over the course of the animation. The campaign, which includes trail and titles, has been produced by the award-winning animation house Passion Pictures, who also produced the BBC’s London 2012 Olympic Games campaign.

To the rousing track ‘Not Gonna Break Me’ by highly acclaimed British artist Jamie N Commons, we see the sloth take on gymnastics, the armadillo clap its hands in chalk for the clean and jerk, as well as the powerful jaguar crack its neck and form up for the 400m, all before they transform into their heroic and spectacular human athlete counterparts.