Hilarious images reveal the weird Olympic sports activities of yesteryear
The addition of breakdancing to the Olympics this year may have left many fans scratching their heads.
But this is arguably not the strangest event that has occurred at the legendary international multi-sport event.
Since the first modern edition at Athens in 1896, several oddities have been contested at the Summer Olympics.
MailOnline takes a look at some of the most random, from tug-of-war, rope climbing, solo synchronised swimming and ‘plunge for distance’.
While these have all have been discontinued, a return to the Olympic programme can never be ruled out.
From tug-of-war, rope climbing and ‘plunge for distance’, here’s the weirdest Olympic sports that have long been discontinued
TUG-OF-WAR (1900-1920)
One of the most long-lived of the former Olympic sports was tug-of-war, which was held at five editions of the games – 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912 and 1920.
As anyone who enjoyed it in the school playground – or watched Squid Game – will know, it involves two sides holding either side of a thick rope.
By sheer brute strength, each Olympic side would attempt to pull the other over a certain distance to be crowned winners, usually in a best of three format.
Great Britain won the gold medal twice for tug-of-war, on home turf in London in 1908 and again in Antwerp in 1920.
Sweden and the US also took gold in 1912 and 1904, respectively, while a mixed team of Danish and Swedish tuggers won gold in 1900.
Great Britain beats USA team in tug of war, during the 1920 Summer Olympics, Antwerp, Belgium. This was the last Olympics with tug of war as an event
London 1908 resulted in a controversial episode in Olympic history, when a winning British tug-of-war team were accused by the US of wearing heavy police boots.
The US team protested to the judges but the protest was dismissed and the Americans bitterly withdrew from the tournament.
Rope climbing during event 1896 Summer Olympics
ROPE CLIMBING (1896-1932)
Another early event that no longer exists in the Olympic roster is rope climbing, an ultimate test of upper body strength.
Male and female competitors had to climb up a vertical rope that was suspended from a tall frame.
The rope was up to 45 feet (14 metres) long and competitors weren’t wearing safety harnesses, so the sport came with great risks.
Contenders were scored not only on how quickly they could reach the top, but how stylishly they did so.
Rope climbing was held at the Olympics four times – in 1896, 1904, 1924, and 1932 – before being scrapped, possibly due to the safety issues.
One of the most memorable climbers was the USA’s George Eyser, who took gold in 1904 despite having a wooden leg.
Today, it’s closest equivalent is sports climbing, first introduced in Tokyo three years ago, where harnessed athletes navigate over artificial climbing walls.
PLUNGE FOR DISTANCE (1904)
Something between a dive and a long jump was ‘plunge for distance’, an aquatic event held only once at the 1904 games in St. Louis.
As the name suggests, competitors had to take a simple dive into the pool and glide for as lengthy a distance as possible while underwater before emerging for breath.
W.E. Dickey of the New York Athletic Club, winner of the Plunge for Distance competition at the 1904 Olympics with a distance of 62 feet, 6 inches
Strictly, once contenders had entered the water they were not permitted to propel themselves along in any way, by flapping their feet for example.
While plunge for distance proved popular in the late 19th century and early 20th century, critics soon disparaged it as ‘dull’ and ‘not athletic at all’.
In his 1922 book, swimming instructor Gerald Barnes said it favoured ‘mere mountains of fat who fall in the water more or less successfully and depend upon inertia to get their points for them’.
HOT AIR BALLOONING (1900)
While the Olympics now last just two weeks, the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris was spread over a whopping five months, from May to October.
This extra timeframe allowed for some contests that took a long time than others, including hot air ballooning.
At Paris 1900, two French balloonists set world records for distance (1,196 miles/1925 km from Paris to Kiev) and duration (nearly 36 hours).
Hot air ballooning was held at the Olympics once, at Paris 1900. Pictured, the 1900 Olympic ballooning event at Le Parc d’aerostation in Paris
One competitor in the long-distance ballooning competition landed in Russia and was arrested for not filing a passport request.
However, some Olympic historians argue that ballooning should not be counted as a former Olympic sport at all.
Since the 1900 Olympics, a series of ‘demonstration sports’ have featured as part of the games, with no medals awarded to winners.
Hot air ballooning was one of these, planned by Daniel Merillon, the president of the French Shooting Federation, not the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
MOTOR BOATING (1908)
Motorboating, also known as powerboating, was an official Olympics sport only once, at London 1908.
Contested by men only, it involved motor boats being raced five laps around a course at Southampton Water.
At the 1908 London Olympics, motorboat races were contested at Southampton Water. Pictured, the British boat Wolseley-Siddely in heavy weather
But it was scrapped when the IOC realised that the Olympics was about testing the endurance of the human body, not a motor engine.
The only other Olympic motor sport was motor racing, held at Paris 1900, although an unofficial ‘Olympic rally’ was held at Berlin 1936, with prizes awarded.
SOLO SYNCHRONISED SWIMMING (1984-1992)
At Paris 2024, breakdancing is stretching the definition of what an Olympic sport is, with an improvised solo performance to music.
In this regard, solo synchronised swimming, held between 1984 and 1992, was somewhat similar.
Solely a woman’s event, it involved competitors performing elaborate, highly- choreographed moves in the water along to music.
Fumiko Okuno of Japan competes in the solo synchronized swimming final at the Barcelona Summer Olympic Games in 1992
But with no-one to synchronise their moves with, the name ‘solo synchronised swimming’ was always something of an oxymoron.
Today, syncronised swimming featuring duos and teams of at least four are still featured at the Olympics – although the term is rebranded ‘artistic swimming’.
The oldest Olympian: Sweden’s Oscar Swahn, pictured here at Stockholm 1912
RUNNING DEER (1908-1924)
Shooting is of course still an Olympic event, but a particularly strange variant was ‘running deer’, held between 1908 and 1924.
Fortunately, no live deer were involved in the Olympic competition, although the practice of shooting the moving animal did inspire it.
Instead, the target was a piece of wood in the shape of a deer mounted on a cart on rails.
One of the most notable athletes in this sport was Sweden’s Oscar Swahn, who won his first Olympic gold medal aged 60 at the 1908 games in London.
Then, following World War I, he made his return at Antwerp 1920, winning a silver in the running deer double-shot team event at the age of 72.
He remains the oldest Olympian, the oldest person to win gold and the oldest athlete to win an Olympic medal.
Fortunately, no live deer were involved in the Olympic competition. Pictured, wooden ‘running deer’ at Paris 1924
ART (1912-1948)
Perhaps most bizarrely of all, art competitions were part of the Summer Olympics from 1912 until 1948.
Medals were dished out for works submitted in five subcategories – architecture, painting, sculpture, literature and music.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the IOC and the modern games, saw the inclusion of arts as fundamental to his vision.
However, the inclusion of arts as an Olympic event was – as you might expect – fiercely debated, leading to its discontinuation after London 1948.
Other more conventional sports that were short-lived at the Olympics include cricket (1900), croquet (1900) and lacrosse (1904-1908).
However, after more than a century’s absence, both cricket and lacrosse are making a comeback at Los Angeles 2028.
