Every four years the Olympic Games take place. With this sport has been a constant inspiration for developing new Smurfs. The number of sports represented by the smurfs has included soccer, hockey, baseball, basketball along with Olympic themed sports just to name a few. One has just has to look back over the years to see the influence of sport reflected in the production of smurfs.
In 2012 Schleich released ten Olympic themed Smurfs. These were only in production for two years however the good thing is that they are still easy to find.
These included Swimmer (Ref# 20736), Weightlifter (Ref# 20737), Beach Volleyball (Ref# 20738), Relay Runner (Ref# 20739), Gymnast (Ref #20740), Sprinter (Ref# 20741), Shot-putter (Ref# 20742), Rider (Ref# 20743), Javelin Thrower (Ref# 20744) and Winner (Ref# 20745)
The following description was taken from the Schleich website written in 2012 about the Sprinter Smurf (Ref# 20741) – With his golden shoes our Sprinter Smurf will run as fast as a blue bolt of lightening. Does Sprinter Smurf remind you of any famous Jamician sprinter?
With 2012 Olympic Smurfs, Schleich also sold these with their own special box. Each box contained five Olympic Smurfs. No doubt over time the interest in these will increase.
The other point of interest the Olympic Smurfs was that out of the ten Smurfs released three of these were Smurfettes. In previous years Schleich tended to only produce one new Smurfette. It is also interesting to note that was around the same time Lego introduced their Lego Disney Princess Range.
For those of you who enjoy their Smurf Olympic history, did you know that when Torchbearer Smurf was first shown in the 1979 Schleich catalogue it was called Olympia Smurf. This version of Torchbearer has a narrow face and wears a white singlet with the Belgium Lion emblem on the chest and white shorts.
Some of you may also recall Sporty, a Smurf character who appears occasionally in the comic books. He is an athlete who enjoys playing any kind of sport.
The Smurfic Games was a series of one-page vignettes set around the theme of Smurfs participating in various sports.
Also in the cartoon show, Hefty Smurf is the character that mostly exhibits a love for sports.
You don’t have to understand all the intricies in the sports played at the Olympics but like collecting Smurfs it helps if know something.
Keep on Smurfin
Kath B