Zoo Olympics is an extremely obscure series of animated shorts produced between France and Belgium. Debuting in 1992 to coincide with the ongoing Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, the show was the brainchild of legendary Belgian animator and cartoonist Jean Paul "Picha" Walravens, who is primarily known for his adult-oriented animated films, making this cartoon among his few kid-friendly works.

There were a total of 52 shorts in this series, each about 2 minutes long and intended to be aired between other shows. All the shorts were set at a stadium in the middle of the forest, where animal athletes from around the world gathered to participate in all manner of sports, from marathons and hockey to high-diving and eating contests. As the athletes competed, a wisecracking snake wearing a cap and a shoe on his tail named Jean-Baptiste Le Pied (voiced by the late great Roger Carel) provided commentary on their feats. Of course, things often got pretty wacky during these events, with stuff like a snowboarding whale completely destroying the stadium or kangaroo boxers producing an endlessly smaller and smaller series of fighters from their pouches - and our lovable announcer wasn't always able to escape the mayhem, we might add.

In its native country, the show was broadcasted on Canal+, but it enjoyed broad distribution in multiple languages during its time, even getting a few full home releases. It also got a Sequel Series called Zoo Cup, which coincided with the 1995 United States FIFA World Cup and featured the same host, many of the same animal species, and a similar execution. Unfortunately, episodes of the show and its sequel are almost impossible to find in this day and age, which is likely a huge factor in its extreme obscurity.

Not to be confused with Animalympics.

Tropes:

• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Most of the animals on the show generally go about naked, but Jean-Baptiste Le Pied wears a hat on his head and a single shoe at the end of his tail (the latter trait shared by all the other snake characters in the show).
• The Announcer: Commentary is provided on the events by a suave, fast-talking snake named Jean-Baptiste Le Pied (John Adder in the show's English dub).
• Belly Flop Crushing: On two separate instances, a blue whale performing a high dive and a ski jump result in this, destroying the entire stadium.
• The Big Race: Several episodes involve marathons. Some are relatively conventional, like moles engaging in a digging race, but others are pretty wacky, like rabid animals spreading their rabies in a variation of relay racing.
• Boxing Kangaroo: One episode has two kangaroo boxers who simultaneously knock each other out, leading two smaller kangaroos to leap out of their pouches to continue the match. Those kangaroos knock each other out too, and even smaller kangaroos take their place from their pouches. Then smaller, and smaller, and smaller, and smaller...
• The Comically Serious: Jean-Baptiste Le Pied is a professional in his work, no matter how ridiculous or outrageous the sports he's commentating on get.
• Counting Sheep: One episode features sheep having to leap over obstacles in a race, and the whole audience (Jean-Baptiste Le Pied included) ends up falling asleep keeping track of the athletes.
• Dark Horse Victory: Several episodes ends with a completely unlikely competitor winning the gold medal. One memorable instance involves a bodybuilding contest between a huge bull, a big bulky pig, a massive hippopotamus, and... a tiny earthworm. While all the competitors put up a good show, the earthworm ultimately reveals itself to be the most ripped of the four.
• Different in Every Episode: Each episode features a different spin on the Olympic flag, usually themed around the episode's competition.
• Eating Contest: Several episodes feature these. A frog, an ostrich, a kangaroo, and a pig participate in a custard pie eating competition in one, while another sees an elephant, a frog, and an octopus competing in a fondue eating challenge.
• Every Episode Ending: At the end of every episode, the podium featuring the event's winners is shown followed by the raising of a parodic version of the Olympic flag and its five rings. Jean Baptiste Le Pied then signs off the episode before ending on a shot of the stadium itself.
• Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: A few such examples, most prominently the rooster referees.
• Funny Animal: All the characters in these shorts are different kinds of anthropomorphized animals, from earthworms to blue whales.
• Hockey Fight: Two teams of hippo hockey players engage in this, resulting in the whole rink getting destroyed and the ice shattering (with the game then turning into a water polo match).
• Interspecies Romance: How about a figure-skating couple composed of an alligator and an ostrich? Though judging from their performance, it seems their "romance" is a bit... rocky.
• Ironic Name: The surname of our serpentine host Jean Baptiste Le Pied means "the foot", for a feature snakes are distinctively known for not having.
• Kidnapping Bird of Prey: Turned into an Olympic sport here. One episode has eagles having to snatch cows and fly them back to their nests to be scored on their performance.
• Mailman vs. Dog: The show takes it to its logical conclusion by making it an Olympic sport! Here, alligator mailmen having to race to deliver their letters to the finish line (a mailbox) while being pursued by angry dogs; get bitten on the rear by your pursuing mutt and you're out.
• The Olympics: Duh! The series was produced and broadcasted to coincide with the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games and features comedic takes on various sporting events.
• Pseudolympics: The show features a mixture of both conventional Olympic sports and absurd, nonsensical ones, as well as a few forms of competition that really don't qualify as sports at all.
• Proj-egg-tile: Some episodes involve birds like ostriches and chickens laying their eggs to be used in sports, such as launching them into basketball hoops, rolling them down slopes, and even playing tennis.
• Removable Shell: One episode has turtles using them as bobsleds!
• Rhino Rampage: One episode features a judo match between an ostrich and a rhinoceros. The rhino proves a pretty brutal and violent opponent, subjecting the ostrich to all kinds of violence far beyond the regulations of a proper martial arts tournament. He's ultimately disqualified when his last act of pummeling sends the ostrich flying out of her uniform and standing in her underwear in front of the whole stadium.
• Sequel Series: Received a few years later in the form of Zoo Cup, which featured the same host and a similar execution. As with the prior show, it was made to coincide with a major sporting event, the 1995 World Cup.
• Show Within a Show: The series is treated as a live broadcast of an actual Olympic Games, with a minor Running Gag occasionally appearing in the form of the channel being suddenly changed to a show on a different network hosted by a hen.
• Stock Footage: In the form of cheering/jeering crowds of animals whenever the athletes do something worthy of such a reaction. Also the introductory sequence always uses the same animation of marching teams of animals as the games begin.
• World of Funny Animals: The species featured in this show range from snakes and chickens to hippos and frogs, but there's not a single human in sight.