The Tokyo 2020—now 2021—Olympic games have officially begun and we couldn’t be more excited. While new sports have been added to the games (this year we’ll see surfing, skateboarding, climbing, and karate for the first time), others were eliminated a long time ago. And some of the sports that got the boot were fairly…odd. Here are the three weirdest sports that people won Olympic medals for.
Tug of War
Tug of war was featured in the Olympics from 1900 to 1920. Two right-man teams often made up with competitors from different countries, had to pull their opponents six feet to win. In fact, it was one of the original games from the Olympics that took place in 500 BCE.
@historynewsreel 💡 Back when tug of war and riding a bike with a big front wheel was a olympic sport. #history #tugofwar #olympic @olympics
♬ Olympics – Mannheim Steamroller
Solo Synchronized Swimming
The name itself is contradictory—who are you going to synchronize with if you’re performing on your own? The music apparently. The sport was introduced in 1984 and discontinued in 1992 when everyone realized it wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Pistol Dueling
This sport sounds much more exciting than it actually was. The word ‘duel’ is quite misleading as the athletes would only fire at stuffed dummies. That is, of course, a relief. But it also raises the question of why was it ever considered an Olympic sport?
