STRANGE OLYMPIC SPORTS
You are probably familiar with track and field, swimming, and gymnastics, but did you know there have been some strange Olympic sports over the years? Here are a few of the more unique events at past Olympic Games.
TUG OF WAR
There is no doubt you’ve played tug
of war at some point, but this event was pulled from the Olympics after 1920. While scholars believe Great Britain won the most medals in the tug of war event, the Olympic committee decided that a group of people trying to pull a rope past a certain point wasn’t a sport many people cared to see during the Olympic Games.
RACE WALKING
Love walking really fast without actually running? Well then, this sport may be for you. Competitors race one another just like a standard race, only, they are walking instead of running. The rules state that every athlete must have at least one foot on the ground at all times, which prevents walkers from running or jogging without realizing it. The result is a group of very fast walkers racing for the gold with a fun little pep in their step.
ROLLER HOCKEY
This fun sport only made it to the Olympic stage once, during the 1992 Games in Barcelona. It had the same rules as ice hockey, but teams wore roller skates instead of ice skates. And while this sport may have been fun to watch, the Olympic Committee decided it would be best to stick with the original form of hockey and play it on ice.
SOLO SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING
This sport made its debut during the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and definitely made a big splash. Synchronized swimming is a type of water ballet performed with a large group and is scored based on how well the team stays in sync with one another. As you can imagine, solo synchronized swimming seemed a bit on the stranger side to audiences as they watched a single performer dance in the water all by herself.
ROPE CLIMBING
Just like those terrible memories you may have from P.E. class, rope climbing was not a hugely popular sport during the Games, which is probably why we haven’t seen it since the 1932 Olympics. Competitors were timed to see how quickly they could climb up a thick, braided rope and the person with the best time won gold.
STANDING HIGH JUMP
While this event might sound like it wouldn’t be that difficult, it was in fact, a sport not for the faint of heart. The high jump has been part of the Olympic track and field events for ages, where athletes run and catapult themselves over a stationary bar. The standing high jump, however, is when athletes stood still, with feet together, and jumped as high as they could to throw their bodies over a stationary bar. The event debuted during the 1900s Games and lived to see a few other Olympic Games before the sport fizzled out.