Cartoons featuring people of color in the Olympics
The Olympics are a popular topic in animation and comics, just as it is in media in general. And, of course, the Olympics feature a diverse range of athletes from around the world. Below, I list some comics and animated cartoons featuring people of color participating in the Olympics (or Olympic-like events).
Cyberchase
In “Team Spirit,” a sixth season episode of “Cyberchase,” Jackie and Inez both compete alongside Matt in Zeus’ version of the Olympics. That said, most of the episode centers around Matt, who learns about the virtues of good sportsmanship. Meanwhile, Hacker enters Buzz and Delete as the opposing team, with Wicked using her magic to make the bots super-buff.
The Olympic-like events here are dubbed “the Mount Olympus Games.” Apparently not even the king of the Greek gods is a match for the International Olympic Committee’s trademark lawyers?
DC Comics
Many DC (and Marvel) superheroes are stated by their companies' writers to have “Olympic-level athletic skills/fitness” to justify how they can beat up dozens of bad guys without, say, throwing out their back. However, some characters actually have participated in the Olympics.
Amazing-Man
Will Everett, aka the superhero Amazing-Man, has as his backstory having participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. However, by the early 1940s, Will had fallen on hard times (the era’s racism not helping), and he become a janitor-turned-henchman for a supervillain. Fortunately, he soon reformed, and joined the wartime-only All Star Squadron.
Since Amazing-Man is a retroactively added character, that makes Will one of DC's earliest Black superheroes in-story (on Earth-2 pre-Crisis and in general post-Crisis).
Black Lightning
Jefferson Pierce, aka the superhero Black Lightning, won the gold in the Olympic decathlon. Years later, Jefferson became a teacher (and superhero) in the run down Metropolis neighborhood dubbed “Suicide Slum."
Mister Terrific
Yet another African American Olympic decathlon gold medalist is Michael Holt, aka the superhero Mister Terrific. Accompanying Michael’s excellent physical skills is his genius intellect, which he’s used to become a self-made millionaire and to fight crime.
Futurama
Like everything else in “Futurama”’s 31st century, even the Olympics have taken on a bizarre turn. The fifth season episode “Bend Her” sees Hermes compete in the 3004 Olympics’ limbo contest. Hermes’ backstory states he was an Olympic limbo competitor years earlier, but dropped out after a fan at the 2980 Olympics was injured while trying to emulate Hermes.
Laff-a-Lympics
“Laff-a-Lympics” is a parody of the Olympics (as well as 70s TV series “Battle of the Network Stars”), originally airing as the anthology series “Scooby’s All-Star Laff-a-Lympics.” The series features most of Hanna-Barbera’s then-current roster of stars competing in a series of athletic events. Said events are held in various locations around the world (from Australia to Quebec), with the series finale taking place on the moon. Three teams compete for gold medal glory:
The “Scooby Doobies”, a team led by Scooby-Doo and composed of Hanna-Barbera’s 70s-era mystery-solving/crime-fighting, including Speed Buggy, Captain Caveman, and Hong Kong Phooey.
The “Yogi Yahooies”, a team led by Yogi Bear and composed of the classic 50s and 60s Hanna-Barbera funny-animal characters, plus one post-60s character, the Great Grape Ape.
The “Really Rottens”, an all-villain team of original characters (though some were pastiches of earlier Hanna-Barbera characters). Mumbly, a pastiche of earlier character Muttley, led the Rottens.
Dee Dee Skyes of “Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels,” along with her fellow Teen Angels and Cavey himself, is a member of Scooby Doobies. A fellow teammate of the Teen Angels is Babu, a bumbling apprentice genie from "Jeannie," a Hanna-Barbera animated spin-off of 60s sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie."
Marvel
Delroy Garrett, Jr.
Delroy, aka Triathlon and 3-D Man, is a former Olympic athlete who lost his medals after testing positive for steroids. After joining a religious organization, Delroy gained the powers of the original 3-D Man and eventually joined a version of the Avengers.
If wondering, Delroy’s powers consist of having triple the abilities of a regular person: three times as fast as the fastest runner, three times as strong as peak human strength, etc.
William Wingfoot
William Wingfoot, the father of Wyatt Wingfoot, was an Olympic decathlon Gold medalist. He’s likely a reference to real-life Native American Olympic gold medalist Jim Thorpe.