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"Other swimmers might think British breaststroker Adam Peaty is from the future. He is undefeated in the 100m in the last five years and has swum the 14 fastest times in history. Peaty is also the only man to have broken the 58-second and 57-second mark for the event. He is often a second or two ahead of his competitors as if he has been sent back in time to kill their dreams of victory. For a man who is pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved, he has an old fashioned view of what should be in the Olympics, telling The Sun newspaper that he wants to see the number of events cut back rather than expanded – Tokyo 2020 will feature climbing, surfing and skateboarding for the first time, while Paris 2024 is set to include breakdancing. “It’s not just swimming, it’s athletics, too. No disrespect to the other sports but we’re adding more sports at an unparalleled pace and that just dilutes the Olympics. “We need to go back to the heritage of the main Olympic sports instead of trying to find something else that could be an Olympic sport.” But what would happen if we went back to the heritage of the Games? Peaty and others might be surprised to see what have passed for Olympic events in years past. Tug of War – Paris 1900, St. Louis 1904, London 1908, Stockholm 1912, Antwerp 1920 Five Games in a row were contested over the length of a rope where teams of eight had to pull their opponents six feet for victory (or if the five-minute limit elapsed, whoever had pulled the opposition furthest was the winner). In 1908, after losing to British tuggers, the US lodged a complaint over illegal spiked footwear – foreshadowing the controversy over Nike’s Vaporfly by more than a century. The Britons offered a rematch in their socks and won again. Swimming obstacle race – Paris 1900 Held over 200 metres in the Seine, competitors had to climb over a pole, clamber over several boats and then swim under some boats in something that seems more attuned to Saturday night television than the Olympics. Australia’s Fred Lane won gold in the event’s solitary outing. Rope climb – Athens 1896, St. Louis 1904, Athens 1906* London 1908, Paris 1924, Los Angeles 1932 In the 1924 Games in Amsterdam, 24 men scored a perfect 10 in the gymnastics, with all but one of them coming in the rope climb. What was it? Exactly what it sounds like on a rope measuring up to 14 metres. Originally competitors were judged on both speed and style but later Games saw that change to time only. Pistol duelling – Athens 1906*, London 1908, Stockholm 1912 A little less dangerous than it appears at first glance – and perhaps a disappointment for spectators who attended because of that – shots were fired at dummies dressed as gentlemen, complete with frock coat. The 1906 Games are no long recognised by the IOC. The firearms fraternity ramped it up for the 1908 Games in London with shooters firing at one another although they were heavily protected and used wax bullets. However, it was not official and a demonstration sport, instead contested on the fringes of the Games. Underwater swimming – Paris 1900 Held over a maximum 60m distance, albeit in the flowing River Seine, swimmers are handed two points for each metre and one point for each second underwater. There was controversy as the real winner was docked points despite spending 30 seconds more under the water than the gold medallist as they had swum in a circle. Plunge for distance – St. Louis 1904 The distance was horizontal not vertical and the divers entered from the side of the swimming pool. The winner was whoever had travelled furthest after one minute. However, competitors were not allowed to propel themselves so had to remain motionless after entering the water. It sounds riveting for those watching on. Solo synchronised swimming – Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992 So that is “solo” as in alone and “synchronised” as in at the same time like in traditional synchronised swimming where the team all match. The only thing that solo synchronised swimmers needed to match up to was the music as they swam-slash-danced for the judges. For some reason it was removed after the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Club swinging – St. Louis 1904, Los Angeles 1932 Like the rhythmic gymnastics of today but with a wooden club that you might find in the hands of a circus juggler. The event got its second and final run out in Los Angeles in 1932 when The Guardian recorded the exploits of winner George Roth of the US. “It was the Great Depression and Roth was unemployed and hungry,” they wrote. “Yet he won gold. Seconds after being awarded his medal in front of 60,000 spectators, he walked out of the stadium in Los Angeles and hitchhiked home.” Tandem bicycle sprint – Athens 1906* to Munich 1972 It sounds like double the danger for any bicycle crash and it is. Even still it lasted from the disputed 1906 Games all the way to 1972 so it must have been doing something right. The two-men tandem teams had to be fastest over 2,000 metres to take victory. Pigeon shooting – Paris 1900 This was the only event to ever use live animals as targets. The winner, Belgian Leon de Lunden killed 21 birds, of 300 in total shot over the event. Thankfully the later shooting event of running deer was with a target shaped like a deer rather than a live animal. La canne – Paris 1924 Sherlock Holmes’ favourite martial art involved cane fighting and this French martial art was solely that. Think fencing but with a stick and you need not ask any more questions. It was only at the Paris Games and has not been seen since. America's first medal at the Nazi Olympics was for...town planning: https://t.co/02pcSLNMq9 via @atlasobscura  pic.twitter.com/8b7Yzgx5Dy — New York Magazine (@NYMag) August 11, 2016 Town planning – Amsterdam 1928 to London 1948 Medals were handed out to the amateur town planners as part of the Olympics architecture event. This was one of the artistic disciplines that also included painting, poetry, music and literature that had been part of the Games since Stockholm in 1912. In 1948 they were scrapped for an arts festival to run alongside the sports. Hot air ballooning – Paris 1900  In a different world the famous hot air balloonists would not be Teddy Ruxpin and Willy Fogg but the gold medallist Olympians. Ballooning did not take off as a demonstration sport, perhaps because the common man and woman did not now how to judge the sport. Horse long jump – Paris 1900 The record long jump for a human is Mike Powell’s mark of 8.95m in 1991 but, the question on every Olympian’s lips should be “Yeah, but what could a horse do?” The answer, as we know from the Paris Games of 1900 is a paltry 6.10m. It has not returned since. Roller hockey was a “demonstration sport” in Barcelona 1992. Retweet if you wish it could return to the @Olympics ! @COE_es  @PrensaCOA  pic.twitter.com/FxnfGaB5D1 — Olympic Channel (@olympicchannel) July 25, 2017 Roller hockey – Barcelona 1992 Played with the same rules as ice hockey but on roller skates and minus the ice, this lasted one Games before being scrapped. Argentina won the only gold after beating Spain in the final and it is safe to say they are unlikely to do that in ice hockey.£ Croquet – Paris 1900 As if hot air ballooning did not confirm the Paris Games as the poshest, there was also tea-party favourite croquet. In 1904 there was an American version, roque, that would prevent the balls going out of bounds with borders. Motorboating – London 1908 There were nine scheduled races of these fancy new motorboats that could reach almost 20mph but only three took place because of the weather. The three that took place may not have been seen because of the same weather and no one has tried to bring motorboats back since. List of strange olympic sports: Horse Long Jump (1900) Live Pigeon Shooting (1900) Underwater Swimming (1900) Tug Of War (1900-1920) Water Motorsports (1908) Poetry (1912-1948) #Paris2024  pic.twitter.com/fkTo98cCOG — Sporting Index (@sportingindex) February 22, 2019 There have been other events that have come and gone (one-handed weightlifting, the standing long jump and standing high jump) as well as those that were demonstrated at Olympic Games but never officially part of the programme. Perhaps angling, kite flying, cannon shooting, fire fighting or pigeon racing could still have a golden future?"
<https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3077757/weirdest-olympic-events-horse-long-jump-town-planning-and-pigeon>