Should these Olympic Sports return?

[whall15]

I was looking at some of the old Olympic sports and I think some of them should make a return.

Tug of War

Tug of war was contested as a team event in the Summer Olympics at every Olympiad from 1900 to 1920. Originally the competition was entered by clubs, which meant that one country could win several medals. This happened in 1904, when the United States won all three medals, and in 1908 when the podium was occupied by three British teams.[1] Sweden was also among the top countries with two medals, one as a member of the mixed team.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tug_of_war_at_the_Summer_Olympics

Obstacle Swimming

The obstacle race required both swimming underneath and climbing over rows of boats

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_at_the_1900_Summer_Olympics

Holding Breath under Water

Yes I'm serious, this was an event at the 1900 Olympics.

Charles de Venville stayed submerged for over a minute to win the underwater swimming event.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Summer_Olympics#Swimming

Town Planning

Yes, again serious. Town Planning was an Olympic event.

The 1928 games introduced a town planning category.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_competitions_at_the_Olympic_Games#Architecture

Club Swinging

Apparently involves swinging a club.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnastics_at_the_1904_Summer_Olympics_–_Men's_club_swinging

Pistol Duelling

Before Olympic anoraks start writing letters, we know the 1906 Intercalated games don't count as an official Olympiad (see Rationale). But this one entry is too good to leave out. Instead of shooting at each other, participants shot at dummies in fancy frock coats with a bullseye embroidered on the chest. The event never appeared on the Olympic list again, but qualifies here for its exhilarating oddity.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,1270844,00.html

Delivery Van Driving

Yes, this was an event at the 1900 Olympics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_racing_at_the_1900_Summer_Olympics

Jeu de paume

Jeu de paume is believe-it-or-not indoor tennis where you hit the ball with your hands.

Jeu de paume was an event contested at the 1908 Summer Olympics. This was the only Summer Olympic Games to contain this sport as a medal event. An outdoor version called longue paume was a demonstration sport at the 1900 Summer Olympics. Real tennis, as jeu de paume is called in the UK, was an exhibition event at the 1924 Summer Olympics. In the Official Report of the 1908 Olympic Games, the sport is referred to as "Tennis (jeu de paume)" while tennis is named "lawn tennis."
The competition venue was the Queen's Club in West Kensington, London.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeu_de_paume_at_the_1908_Summer_Olympics


Horse Long Jump


The IOC must have thought that animals were part of the Olympic spirit.


Yes, this was an event for horses, although it is not clear whether the beasts themselves ever mounted the podium to collect their own medals. From an animal as lean, powerful and disciplined as the horse, one would expect Eddie Kidd bus-jumping antics, but, in fact, these equine leaps were a tad more modest. Extra Dry won the contest at the Paris Olympics with a jump of 20 feet and a quarter of an inch. Putting it into perspective, that's 2.63 metres shy of the current world record. For humans.


http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,1270844,00.html


There have been some really odd Olympic sports.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Lol@ delivery van driving and town planning :lol:

 

[Twizzle]

Pistol Duelling ?

last man standing wins gold, everyone else goes home in a box ?

 

[whall15]

Nah, they shoot at dummies, I assume they mark it on accuracy.

 

[IanG]

Bombing?

 

[Danish]

Besides town planning all of these events have more business in the Olympics than anything that decides a medal with judges

 

[Karl]

Tug o war and obstacle swimming would be cool.

 

[ozbash]

Lol@ delivery van driving and town planning :lol:

Change it to Team Delivery Bus Driving.
Aussie have already got a medal for that..

The driver got lost yesterday with a planeload of Aussie competitors and took them on a 3 hour tour of London...

Be hard to beat.

 

[Desert Qlder]

A new sport, certain Aussie Gold:

http://www.forkliftcomp.com.au/

 

[Pugzley]

Bah, we should have at least one bloodsport in the olympics. Maybe muay thai or mma. Even pistol duelling.

 

[Fire]

Jeu de paume would be cool. It sounds like hand-ball that you used to play in school.

Horse long jump would be funny as shit to watch, but I imagine horses would have to get put down which is not cool at all.

Tug-o-war sounds awesome. We could send the Kangaroo forwards over there to kick the rest of the world's arse.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

What kind of steroid would you use to win gold in the town planning event?

 

[Parra]

Holding Breath under Water . This would be an awesome spectator sport where spectators, even at home watching on TV, could compete with the athletes.

This should make a comeback.

 

[Timbo]

A lot of people aren't aware, but in the same year that the former British Empire has the Commonwealth games, the former French and Portugese Empires have the Francophone and Lusophone games respectively.

Whilst it's fairly standard stuff, the Francophone Games also includes categories such as Song, Poetry, Sculpture, Inspirational Dance and Fairy Tales.

How on earth would you decide the winner of the Fairy Tale event?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francophone_Games

 

[joshie]

Bring back obstacle swimming!

 

[Jason Maher]

Delivery Van Driving SHOULD be in these games, given the popularity of Top Gear.

And Handball should absolutely be there, with the participants having to argue over the rules, like whether Ace goes to King or direct to Quintuple Dunce, whether a loss at Quintuple Dunce means you're out, what the consequences of Lines and Rolls are, and so forth.

 

[theblob]

Town planning was a subsection of the architecture prize, back when artistic competitions also formed part of the games.

I would also take the list of sports for 1900 with a pinch of salt, there were some strange goings-on alright but many formed part of the World Fair...in fact even the Olympics of that year were a bit of a sideshow of the main event. Apparently there are cases of people going to their graves without realising they were Olympic champions from that year!

 

[simostorm]

Delivery Van Driving Event.. classic. I would watch that for sure.. would probably be my favourite event.