Comments on: Q&A #60: What comic book character do you want to compete at the Olympics?

By: Fantastic Fangirls: Comics and Culture » Blog Archive » Q&A #75: Revisiting Past Q&As

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:57:15 +0000

[...] Q&A #60: What comic book character do you want to compete at the Olympics?, I said that I wanted to see Cyclops as a figure skater, because he reminded me of Gold Medalist [...]

By: Olympic-level Superheroes at Fantastic Fangirls: Comics and Culture

Olympic-level Superheroes at Fantastic Fangirls: Comics and Culture — Mon, 10 May 2010 15:15:51 +0000

[...] recent war of words between Olympic gold medalist Evan Lysacek (who I’ve compared to a superhero before) and his long-time rival, Johnny Weir. I won’t go into all the gory details, but they include [...]

By: Caroline

Caroline — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:16:59 +0000

@Art On reflection, Hal & John would also make a good team. Bruce could be their corporate sponsor!

By: Aboynamedart

Aboynamedart — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:10:52 +0000

Sorry, Caroline, gotta disagree with you a bit – I can totally see John Stewart jumping at the chance to serve his country again … even if it means riding in an icy canoe.

By: Menshevik

Menshevik — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:20:41 +0000

@Anika -
while for me the fact that Carol wasn’t born with the ability to fly makes her more problematic as her case (power-transfer through technology) does come uncomfortably close to real-world doping, while in Northstar’s case you could argue that his superspeed is just something he was born with which gives him an edge, rather as tall people frequently have an edge playing basketball and certain blood types given an advantage in long-distance running. But that’s just my personal take on the question. Obviously, if Carol had competed before she got zapped by the psyche-magnitron, she’d be okay (and I think she’d also be a natural for biathlon given her background).

@Margot -
speaking of archers, I think I’d like to see both Hawkeyes at the Olympics. Well, I’m more of a Marvel guy (which results in the odd fact that I know and love Arrowette, but basically don’t know from any of DC’s other Arrow guys).

By: Anika

Anika — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:46:17 +0000

@Mensheviek –
1. Yes, she is able to fly; I said at the end she’d be ineligible as a superhuman. But I sort of took the question as superpowers would be factored somehow in the fantasy.

2. She wasn’t born with the ability to fly and it is my personal opinion that Carol’s innate character is not defined by her superhuman abilities so if we took away said abilities for the purposes of the hypothetical, it would still be *Carol* competing.

3. First, while that is something of a valid comparison, the Summer Games have more events so subtracting ones that do not have enough participation makes more sense logistically. Second, they took out both baseball and softball but here they maintain the men’s jump but do not include the women’s. It is a double standard and one with no cause because a) there are competitive, international women jumpers, and b) the women are just as good as the men — they even tested the jump in Vancouver for the IOC. I’d be perfectly fine with the women being allowed to compete in the men’s competition if it is really a numbers game, though that would likely be frowned upon in some circles.

By: Margot

Margot — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:27:48 +0000

@Menshevik I know. One of my favorite issues ever. Which is why the rest of her family need medals as well.

By: Anika

Anika — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:27:35 +0000

@Caroline He got the name when he won gold in Salt Lake City. He was 20 years old and no one had never heard of him, he was a scraggly kid with glasses and he flew and won gold — and he was exuberant crying out “Gold medal yah!”. I wish I could find a youtube of it because it’s adorable and one of those rare completely unmanufactured Olympic moments. But it’s just one of those things someone somewhere said and it stuck. He won both golds again this year.

By: Menshevik

Menshevik — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:15:08 +0000

@Anika -
Um, isn’t Carol Danvers able to fly? So wouldn’t she inevitably be excluded from competing in the ski jump even if they had it for women at the Olympics? And wouldn’t you have a similar problem with a lot of superpowered people? Northstar certainly got a lot of negative publicity and was accused of cheating after his powers became public knowledge, and these accusations led him to relinquish his medals (don’t know if they included any Olympic ones).
Re. women’s ski jump not being an Olympic discipline: Well, with some sports the decision which ones are included at the Olympics does seem to be a bit arbitrary. I rather suspect there are a lot more baseball and softball players than there are women ski jumpers (maybe even ski jumpers male and female), yet these games are no longer Olympic.

@Margot -
Well, Cissie (formerly Arrowette) did win a gold medal in archery at a big international competition that transparently represented the Sydney Olympics. So she’s the one who immediately came to my mind when I read the questions.

@Sigrid -
Love the idea!

By: Caroline

Caroline — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:45:48 +0000

Anika. . .why is that guy called Harry Potter?

I love our answers.