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The 10 Most Hilarious Sports That've Been Cut From The Olympics
Most of the sports represented at the original 1896 Olympic Games are still featured today — but some haven't been so lucky. And it ain't hard to see why. Motorboating? Tug-of-war? What even is skijöring? From ski ballet to bandy, we've rounded up the best sports cut from the Olympics over the years.
But there's still hope: The International Olympic Committee voted to add two sports, golf and rugby, back in for 2016 and 2020. Maybe one of these is next on the list....
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Tug-of-War
This summer camp favorite was a serious competition in every Olympics between 1900 and 1920.
And, like many headline sports, tug-of-war attracted its share of controversy — for example, the 1904 gold-medal Milwaukee Athletic Club squad was discovered afterwards to be imposters from Chicago. Four years later, the Americans protested that the British were using illegal cleats. Long story short, the protest failed, and they indignantly left the competition.
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Skijöring
Imagine water skiing. Got it? Now, replace the water with snow and the boat with a horse.
That’s skijörling, derived from skikjøring, the Norwegian word for “ski driving.” Surprisingly, although it was a demonstration sport in 1928, it never achieved competition status. Now that modern technology has replaced the horses with motorcycles, we wish the IOC would give it another chance.
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Swimming Obstacle Course
The French built an obstacle course in 1900, through which swimmers had to swim 200 meters, climb a pole, clamber over one row of boats, and swim under another. All while fighting the River Seine’s famous current.
The winner of this one-time event, Australian Frederick Lane, also won the 200 meter freestyle event. Lane was only slowed down by the obstacles by 13 seconds. Imagine that one in Sochi.
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Ski Ballet
Later renamed acroski, this sport involved a choreographed routine of flips, tricks, and spins set to music — almost like figure skating on skis.
For a short time in the 1980s, there was even a pairs competition with lifts! Unfortunately for the rest of us, after demonstration performances at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, the International Ski Federation ceased all competition of this sport in 2000. Luckily, it lives on forever on YouTube.
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Motorboating
No, not that. In fact, there were no women at all involved in the first and last Olympic Water Motor Sports competition in London, back in 1908.
Incidentally, it was also the first and last Olympic event to involve motors, which probably means our motorcycle skijörking campaign will be hard-won. Especially since the powerboating competition never really happened — six of the nine events were cancelled due to bad weather off Southampton.
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Croquet & Roque
These two similarly named sports are unsurprisingly similar—you’ve probably played the first, or at least saw it in Alice in Wonderland, while the second is played on a hard-rolled court with a wall off which to bounce the balls.
After 1900 and 1904, respectively, the IOC decided the Olympics were no place for lawn games. Off with their heads!
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Solo Synchronized Swimming
Synchronized swimming brings to mind bevies of bathing-suit-clad babes in slightly awkward water ballets. But from 1984-1992, the sport also included a solo division, in which the athlete performed a underwater pas de deux, synchronized with her imaginary friend. Or, as the organizers claim, with the music.
Either way, 1992 was a year of great controversy, as a judge accidentally entered an 8.7 instead of a 9.7 for Canadian Sylvie Fréchette, costing her the gold medal. After an appeal, the IOC awarded two golds, but cut the sport before 1996.
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Bandy
Combine soccer and hockey — it’s completely logical that it’s called bandy, right?
The 1952 Olympic demonstration between Finland, Norway, and Sweden was actually the first international bandy tournament. There were rumors it would be played in Sochi, but, instead, the Bandy World Championships will be hosted in the same city at the same time.
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Underwater Swimming
In this event, held only at the 1900 Olympics in Paris, the entrants swam up to 60 meters — trying to stay underwater the whole time.
They were awarded two points for each meter swum and one point for each second underwater. The bronze medalist actually stayed underwater the longest, but because he swam in a circle, the judges refused to award him the points necessary for a gold. Not even a scandal was enough to please the spectators, who called the sport ”unexciting” due to a lack of above-water action.
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Rope Climb
This probably brings back bad memories from gym class, but in 1896, 1904, 1906, 1924, and 1932, timed rope climbing was a serious part of the gymnastics competition.
In 1932, all three medals went to American gymnasts, each of whom climbed the 25-foot rope in under 10 seconds, using only their hands and arms. So really, your gym teacher was just preparing you for the Olympics. Thanks, coach!
Check out more information on these and other sports here.
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