Discontinued Olympic Sports
American swimmer Michael Phelps entered the record books over the weekend winning his eighth Olympic gold medal as his swim team won the 400 meter medley. With the win, Phelps surpassed the previous record held for 36 years by Olympian Mark Spitz. Facing reporters following the race Phelps said it was not an easy feat. Commenting on the accomplishment he said, “Everything had to fall into perfect place. If we had to do this again, I don’t know if it would happen exactly the way we wanted it to.”
Leading up to the record breaking swim by Phelps, all eyes seemed to be on the Olympics wondering if he would topple the 36 year old record. Now that it’s happened, will people still watch the Olympics? Do people really care about the Olympics? In the big picture, do more people watch the Summer Olympics, or the Winter Olympics? I have no idea what the answer is to any of those questions, but I do know one thing for sure, the first modern Games have been around since 1896.
Since the Games started, many events have come and gone. Some good, some bad…
In total, 12 sporting events have disappeared completely. Included on that list; golf, rugby, croquet, cricket, polo, tug-of-war, lacrosse and motor boating. The track and field event of the standing high-jump has also disappeared. But, the most intriguing of all, come in the shooting events. Included on the list of disappearing events for shooting — pigeon shooting and dueling pistols. That’s right, I said dueling pistols.
The dueling pistol event was held twice in the Olympic Games. The first time it showed up was in 1906 at what are known as the Intercallated Games, which were not official recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Dueling pistols also appeared in 1912. Just how did the event work? It required competitors to shoot at mannequins dressed in frock coats. There was a Bull’s eye on the dummy’s throat which the competitor of course aimed for. I’m not sure how each competitor qualified for the event, but maybe it was a last man standing scenario which got them there.
Whatever the case may be, the dueling pistol event is no longer part of the Olympic Games. That’s too bad. Now there’s something I would have traveled to see.
Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus
I have a hard time watching “athletes” hitting a “birdie” across the net and conceiving that as Olympic sport.
I have a difficult time following water polo. You really can’t see what’s going on.
I’m disappointed the venues are empty while people are having trouble getting tickets. It’s reported that the Chinese are concerned about demonstrations. Speaking of which, already fans with Taiwan flags have been deported upon arrival in China.
I’m curious about the number of Americna athletics getting stomach cramps. Someone suggested the Chinese may be giving them just a bit of food poisoning to gain a competitive edge. No evidence of that, but still!
I’m disappointed that the Olympic officials are avoiding tough questions from reporters by canceling daily briefings.
Rus, you motivated me to write all this. I think I’ll post it on my blog as well!