©IOC

These three emblematic Australian animals were chosen by designer Matthew Hatton to become the mascots of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Wanting to avoid references to kangaroos or koalas, he chose to use three animals which are rarer, but just as representative of the local fauna: a platypus, a kookaburra and an echidna. The three also represented three of the key elements in Australia: earth (the echidna), air (the kookaburra) and water (the platypus).