History Main / AcademicAthlete

* Light Yagami in ''Manga/DeathNote'' is the top-scoring student in the country, and also excels at sports (as shown by his tennis match with L) where his prowess at soccer, for example, contributes to his status as a local BigManOnCampus.

* [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Barbara Gordon]] was a star student throughout her life, and also took various martial arts classes from the age of 6 up into college.

For whatever reason, at least in fiction, this character is usually [[AlwaysFemale much more likely to be female]] than male, even though the sports being played are traditionally male-dominated. In real life, it's a much different story, as plenty of male academic athletes exist, but at least in fiction, Academic Athletes are Almost AlwaysFemale, possibly for [[FeministFantasy feminist]] ([[WomenAreWiser or not-so feminist]]) reasons. This is probably done as a mix of PassionateSportsGirl and HigherEducationIsForWomen. If there's a contrast between two girls, this one will be firmly the {{Tomboy}} in TomboyAndGirlyGirl because of how independent she is. SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan on the other hand are less likely to use this as the sensitive guy is more likely to be academic and the manly man is more likely to be athletic. If there is a contrast between two athletic tomboys, the toxic manly tomboy will most likely not be an academic or cultured athlete, while the relatively more effeminate boyish tomboy (or a [[TomboyWithAGirlyStreak tomboy with a stronger girly streak]]) will be both an academic and cultured athlete. TruthInTelevision: studies have shown that students, both male and female, that engage in artistic extracurricular activities, such as music, singing, dancing, and other fine arts and crafts, tend to get better grades than those who do not engage in artistic extracurricular activities, so in many cases, a female academic athlete is also more likely to be an artistically cultured athlete as well.

* ''Series/{{Wishbone}}'': Samantha "Sam" Kepler participates in every sport her male friends do and is picked for her class team captain spelling bee because she's always reading.

* Andre in ''Film/NecessaryRoughness''. He got into Texas State on a football/chemistry scholarship, and by his third year has nearly completed his [=PhD=] and is already ''teaching'' classes. He quit football to focus on academics his freshman year, but he steps up when the school's program is in danger and the team needs players. Other than the QB, he's the only one on the team who's ever played before.
** Edison, another player, is ''not'' an academic athlete, but mentions that he has two cheerleaders who've been doing his homework for him (at least before Andre starts helping him study).
* ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet:'' In addition to being a fit jock, recurring character Dan Jordan is the valedictorian of his class.

* The Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse version of Victor Stone was this before he got crippled in a car accident and became ComicBook/{{Cyborg}}. He was on the football team of Gotham City University and worked with his parents at S.T.A.R. Labs. His football career is touched upon in ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'', and his former self wearing his GCU jacket is [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith his avatar]] when he ventures in the digital world.
* Casey in ''Film/IcePrincess'' is a figure skating prodigy in addition to being a math genius whose been offered a scholarship.

* In ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'', Mikoto Misaka is better at academics than Touma (despite being a few years younger than him) and also highly athletic. Most of this is justified by Mikoto being a high-level [[PsychicPowers esper]], meaning she receives much better tuition than Touma and has limited SuperIntelligence as a RequiredSecondaryPower - in [[Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun her spinoff series]] the presence of her classmates makes it far less notable.

* Jason Mcnamara is Carmen Lopez's on again off again love interest on Series/TheGeorgeLopezShow. He is handsome, athletic, caring to his handicapped little brother, a straight a student, rich, and a seemingly great guy.
* In the original ''Series/KamenRider'', Takeshi Hongo is both a genius (with an ImprobablyHighIQ of 600) and an accomplished athlete; unfortunately for him, he's exactly the kind of person [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Shocker]] is looking for, which gets him kidnapped and [[UnwillingRoboticisation turned into a cyborg]], kicking off the plot of the series (and the [[LongRunners franchise]]).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Sixteen}}'': Jennifer "Jen" Masterson is a PassionateSportsGirl (her favorite sports apparently being soccer and snowboarding) and offhandedly mentions being a straight-A student in one episode. By contrast, Jonesy Garcia (her stepbrother) doesn't take school as seriously as she does (he, rather offhandedly, mentions in one episode that he's failing two of his classes) and is more of [[DumbJock Dumb]] JerkJock.

* Katsuki Bakugo from ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' is a a very smart student, being in the top of his class before UA. However, being a hero is like a being an athlete in the MHA world, so he trains to become one while being a JerkJock to everyone (mostly to [[TheHero Izuku Midoriya]]).

* ''Fanfic/TheSimpsonsTeamLASH'': Simon Skinner-Chalmers loves school, gets phenomenal grades, and serves as Team L.A.S.H.'s resident brainiac. He also enjoys playing hockey and is exceptionally physically strong and agile.

* ''Film/TheArcher'': Lauren is both a straight A student and an expert archer on her high school archery team.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': In "Future Tense", the athletic Lynn Loud becomes this. While normally considered to be BookDumb by Lisa and Lincoln, when she takes up mathematics she manages to ace it, suggesting there are some HiddenDepths regarding her intelligence.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In the episode "Lisa on Ice", [[Characters/TheSimpsonsLisaSimpson Lisa Simpson]] discovers that she is failing PE despite her positive grades in school. She tries basketball and volleyball, but fails at both of them. One day, she, Homer and Marge go to pick up Bart from a game in pee wee ice hockey. After the game has ended, Bart teases Lisa by using his hockey stick to shoot pieces of litter at her. She manages to block each piece without any trouble. This does not go unnoticed by Apu; the coach of Bart's opposing team. He hits a hockey puck at her and she manages to grab it. Impressed, Apu recruits Lisa and appoints her as the goalie of his team. She proves to be very skilled in hockey and eventually battles Bart's team.

* Touko and Saka of ''Manga/BloomIntoYou'' are the two top students in the school, and very skilled at sports. When the student council competes against the other clubs, they, with Touko and Sayaka's help, come in third, just after the basketball team.

*** A few schools have a reputation for specifically being uncompromising. Probably the best-known example would be Stanford University, a member of the Pac-12, one of the [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootballPower5Conferences five premier athletic conferences]] (and #1 all-time in NCAA championships won across all sports), but also the "Harvard of the West" that demands high academic standards from all of its students, even the athletes. To a lesser degree, Duke University in North Carolina.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In the episode "Lisa on Ice", Lisa discovers that she is failing PE despite her positive grades in school. She tries basketball and volleyball, but fails at both of them. One day, she, Homer and Marge go to pick up Bart from a game in pee wee ice hockey. After the game has ended, Bart teases Lisa by using his hockey stick to shoot pieces of litter at her. She manages to block each piece without any trouble. This does not go unnoticed by Apu; the coach of Bart's opposing team. He hits a hockey puck at her and she manages to grab it. Impressed, Apu recruits Lisa and appoints her as the goalie of his team. She proves to be very skilled in hockey and eventually battles Bart's team.

* ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'': Jane Vaughan is a skilled football player and the Valedictorian of her class. Her plan is to become a lawyer. This is also the same case for Katie, who is not only on the soccer team, but is in karate, the school newspaper, and is student council president.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'': Sunset Shimmer is a former student of Princess Celestia, and while she's not as smart as Twilight, she's still among the more intelligent students. She's also far more athletically competent than human Twilight, as seen in Friendship Games.

* Moe Berg was a baseball player who attended New York University and Princeton, studied seven languages (Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Sanskrit), and worked for the US government as a spy during World War 2, doing missions in Japan and Europe.

** An even more recent NFL example: Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman, was named the top lineman in Canadian university football in 2013 while attending medical school at [=McGill=] University in his hometown of Montreal.[[note]]In Quebec, medical schools accept local applicants with a two-year CEGEP diploma, equivalent to the first year of a US or Anglophone Canadian university. This differs from medical schools in Anglophone Canada (which require anywhere from two years of university to a bachelor's degree, depending on the school) or the States (which almost always require a bachelor's degree).[[/note]] He completed his MD in 2018 while playing with the Chiefs, though he does not plan on doing his residency until ending his football career. Duvernay-Tardif received ''huge'' acclaim for putting his football career on hold during the [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID-19 pandemic]], opting out of the 2020 NFL season to work as an orderly in a Montreal senior care home.

*** A few schools have a reputation for specifically being uncompromising. Probably the best-known example would be Stanford University, a member of the Pac-12, one of the five premier athletic conferences (and #2 all-time in NCAA championships won across all sports, behind UCLA), but also the "Harvard of the West" that demands high academic standards from all of its students, even the athletes. To a lesser degree, Duke University in North Carolina.

* Most students at military academies. They are [[BadassBookworm Badass Bookworms]] in training, after all.

* Finnish President Urho Kekkonen won Finnish championships in high jumping 1924. Many Finnish presidents have been notable sportsmen: Pehr Svinhufvud - shooting; C.G.E. Mannerheim - riding; Urho Kekkonen - high jump and skiing; Mauno Koivisto - volleyball; Martti Ahtisaari - basketball. All except Field Marshal Mannerheim did also hold academic degree.