Odd Discontinued Olympic Sports

 Every night before I sleep, I think of what the next blog topic is going to be and this is where I got my topic for today:


When I came back from school today, I found Zeus rolling his cheese stick on a table and I remember hearing something about a sport that started in England called Cheese Rolling. I wanted to find out more about it so I looked it up on the net and turns out Cheese Rolling is when people roll down a hill and the person who reaches the bottom first wins. So I thought about doing a post on odd sports and this is what I got for you.

Obstacle Swimming Race

 A highly unusual, yet undeniably fun race, swam over 200 meters. Competitors first had to swim to a pole, climb up and down the pole, then swim a bit, clamber over 2 boats, swim under two more boats, and then swim to the finish. This was held only once, during the 1900 Olympics, and was won by Frederick Lane of Australia.

Distance Diving

A silly event that almost certainly attracted equally silly people. This was contested only once, in 1904. Competitors would dive into the pool and remain motionless for 60 seconds or until their head bobbed out of the water, after which their distance was measured. The winner was American, William Dickey, who must be very proud. It is interesting to note that all entrants were Americans. No photos are available of this event so I have used a photo of ladies diving in to a pool.

Roque

An American variation on the French sport of croquet, this was played during the 1904 St. Louis Olympics. Understandably, as the sport was virtually unknown outside of the US, all of the competitors were American. The sport was dropped after this Games and is widely believed to have been included for the sole purpose of boosting the USA’s medal count.

Rope Climbing

A sport with the chance of returning, the rope climb was actually part of the gymnastics program, and was contested sporadically between 1896 and 1932. At the 1904 Games, the event was won sensationally by American George Eyser, who competed with one wooden leg. Eyser went onto win five more gymnastics medals, including two more golds.

Pistol Deuling

An aristocratic sport for men of bravery and honor, right? Well not when your opponent is a mannequin, as was during the 1906 ‘intercalated’ Games. Competitors took turns shooting at a mannequin dressed in fancy clothes from 20 and 30 meters. It returned to make a brief appearance at the 1912 games, before being banished forever (hopefully).

Synchronized Swimming

Synchronized swimming already has a somewhat risible reputation at the Games, and its hard to understand the motive for introducing it into the Games, especially when it was preceded by solo synchronized swimming, which was contested during the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Games. A single woman would get into the pool and try to synchronize with the music being played. Yes, it really is as bad as it sounds.

Pigeon Shooting

Contested during the 1900 Games, this was the only time when animals were killed for sport during a modern Olympics. Over 300 pigeons were killed during the Games, many of them from the gun of Belgian Leon de Lunden who took Gold with 21 kills. Understandably, the sport was dropped from the program after the 1900 Games and eventually replaced with clay pigeon shooting.