Sports come and go in the Olympics fairly regularly. There are the events that are here to stay (swimming, gymnastics, track and field), there are the new events (skateboarding and surfing, long overdue). The modern Olympics have a long history. There have been lots of events that were given a chance in the spotlight. And there have been plenty that have disappeared into obscurity. But I think there are a few former Olympic sports that deserve another chance.
But first, a quick note. Some Olympic historians argue that Paris 1900 shouldn’t be counted as an Olympic Games. The first “modern Olympics,” held in Athens in 1896, was organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The 1900 Paris event was officially titled “Concours Internationaux d’Exercices Physiques et de Sports” and was not planned by the IOC. I’ve chosen to count it as an Olympics here for two main reasons. First, of the approximately 1200 athletes participating, there were 11 or 12 women competing for the first time, and I like to consider them Olympians. Second, there were some crazy events, and I really want to consider them Olympic sports.
1 Pistol Dueling
2 Tug-of-War
Unlike most of the former Olympic sports on this list, tug-of-war was actually around for a while. It was at five Olympics: 1900, ’04, ’08, ’12, and ’20. It was eight-on-eight, and was won when one team pulled the rope six feet. In the 1900 Olympics, the rules seemed a bit hazy. Many of the teams were made up of athletes competing in other events. The United States withdrew their team because three members were busy with hammer throwing. The gold medal went to a combined team from Sweden and Denmark, who defeated the host nation France. That French team included Constantin Henriquez de Zubiera, the first black medalist in the history of the Olympic Games. He later won gold with the French Rugby Union.
The history of tug-of-war at the Olympics is chaotic and wonderful. I can’t go into it all, though I wish I could, so I’m just going to leave you with this story. At the 1908 Olympic Games, the Liverpool Police team (competing for Great Britain) caused controversy by wearing shoes so heavy they could barely lift their feet. The United States protest was over-ruled, and the Liverpool Police won gold. Their later offer of a rematch in bare feet was declined. That’s a sporting scandal I can get behind.
3 Swimming Obstacle Race
I promise that I’m not just claiming things I would have done as a child were Olympic sports, except that they kind of were. This appeared once, at the 1900 Paris Olympics. Competitors had to swim to a pole, climb it, slide down it, swim to some boats, climb over the boats, swim to some more boats, and go under those boats, swimming a total of 200 meters. Also, they did it in the Seine, because pools are too easy. Frederick Lane of Australia won the gold, with a time of 2:38.4. He also won the 200 meter freestyle at the same Olympics, with a time of 2:25. The pole and boats only slowed him down by 13 seconds.
4 Hot Air Ballooning
Another event that only appeared at Paris 1900. There were several ballooning events featured, including traditional hot air balloons, weather balloons, and kites. The most popular events were the long-distance flights. The first race was grounded by heavy winds, but the second race was more successful. The winner, Comte Henri de la Vaulx, flew 768 miles to Włocławek, just west of Warsaw, Poland. At the time, Poland was a part of Russia, and he was taken into police custody immediately upon landing as he hadn’t filed a passport request. He was kept in custody for a day. There would probably be a lot of logistics involved in making this work today, but those former Olympic sports with balloons and kites would be an excellent visual spectacle today, and I would like to see them.
5 Water Skiing
I’m genuinely surprised that this isn’t an event already. It has appeared the most recently; it was a demonstration sport at the Munich 1972 games. In 2002, the 2004 Athens Organizing Committee proposed water skiing as their only new sport, but it was rejected by the IOC. The main argument against it is that the towboat takes the skill and athleticism out of water skiing. I have tried water skiing, and can say with confidence that being attached to a towboat does not automatically mean that you can water ski. Professional water skiers are incredible athletes using the technology that is required for their sport, and I would really like to see them back in the Olympics.
Honorable Mentions
As I said at the top, the Paris 1900 Olympics are debated. But, as a combination Olympic Games and World’s Fair, they were also full of exhibition events. I tried to keep this list to events that I actually think should come back. But I can’t just ignore some of the events from Paris 1900, and I need other people to know about them.
There were automobile and motorboat races, in addition to the hot air ballooning and the traditional track and swimming races. Among the automobile classes were taxis, delivery vans, small trucks, and large trucks. There was also firefighting and lifesaving. There was live pigeon shooting, as well as long jump and high jump competitions for horses, because animal rights were apparently not a thing in 1900. Rope climbing was a part of gymnastics. There was underwater swimming, and women were allowed to compete in croquet, though only one fan bought a ticket and attended that event.
Many of those more outlandish events have never really been classified as “official,” though the IOC has never really been very clear on that, so, in my heart, they are all Olympic events.
I also can’t let this go without mentioning a more recent event. Solo synchronized swimming has appeared at three Olympic Games, Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988, and Barcelona 1992. Apparently the “synchronized” means with the music, but it’s a pretty weak argument. Solo has been dropped in favor of team synchronized swimming, which makes more sense to me. But men have never been allowed to compete, and I think it’s time we let them.
And finally, we come to the reason I started writing this post on former Olympic sports. Another Paris 1900 event: the poodle clipping. Competitors were given two hours to clip as many poodles as they could, with the winner completing seventeen poodles.
Sigh. Though I wish we lived in a glorious world where this was truly an Olympic event, it’s not true. It’s an April Fool’s Day joke written by Christopher Lyles in 2008 for The Daily Telegraph, as part of a countdown to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Fingers crossed for Paris 2024, because how perfect would that be?
Sources
10 Bizarre Olympic Events, howstuffworks.com
The ten weirdest events in Olympic Games history: from pistol duelling to poodle clipping, gq-magazine.co.uk
Tug-of-war Olympics History, tugofwar.co.uk
A brief history of obstacle-course racing and the Olympics, mensjournal.com
The Year Ballooning Was an Olympic Event, Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, airandspace.si.edu
Live Pigeon Shooting And Other Odd Olympic Games, npr.org
Poodle Clipping as an Olympic Sport, Museum of Hoaxes, hoaxes.org
Guest author Lydia Stedman is officially old enough that things from her childhood are vintage. And not just because she grew up in a vintage friendly household. When she isn’t thinking about former Olympic sports, she collects vintage costume jewelry, books and eccentric dog-related decor.
