More than a century after being cut from the official roster, golf is making a triumphant return to the Summer Olympics in Rio. Rugby, too—which hasn’t been on the programme since 1924—is an Olympic sport again. The International Olympic Committee has slashed a number of sports over the years, not all of which have gotten a second chance at gold medal glory. Here are some of them.
1. Tug of War
Tug of war was part of the Olympic Games from 1900 until 1920. It was also a magnet for controversies. In 1904, the American squad was terrific until further research established that the team was composed of ringers. Scandal struck again in 1908 when the American squad protested that the police boots worn by the British pullers were equipped with illegal cleats. The British team grabbed five medals before it fell off the programme following the 1920 Games.
2. Cricket
Cricket made its Olympic debut in 1900 in Paris. Things got off to a rough start when the Belgian and Dutch teams withdrew from the field prior to the start of play, leaving just a British touring team, the Devon and Somerset Wanderers, to take on the French Athletic Club Union’s squad. The teams weren’t even aware that they were playing in the Olympics, until the IOC sat down to make a comprehensive record of the Games in 1912. The sport never returned to the Games.
3. Basque Pelota
The Paris Games of 1900 saw more than one sport make its sole Olympic appearance. Basque pelota, a sport with ancient roots in which teams of two players use a curved basket to fling a ball against a wall in a racquetball-like game, made the Olympic programme. Unfortunately only two teams showed up. The duo from Spain beat a French pair in the sole Olympic match to claim the gold medals. The final score of the match is lost to history.
4. Croquet
Like cricket and Basque pelota, croquet only saw action at the 1900 Paris Games before fading into Olympic oblivion. The host Frenchmen made the most of the opportunity, though; they claimed all seven medals awarded in the sport. Records are sketchy, but it would seem that across the three events, nine of the 10 competitors were French.
5. Roque
Give yourself 50 bonus points if you know what roque is. The sport is a croquet variant played with short mallets on a hard rolled-sand court with a wall off which players can bank the balls. Roque debuted at the 1904 Games in St. Louis, Americans swept the medals, and the sport promptly disappeared.
6. Jeu De Paume
Jeu de paume, or “real tennis,” is a tennis precursor that was originally played without racquets — players hit the ball with their hands. By the 1908 Games in London, the sport had evolved to the point where small racquets played a key role. American railroad scion Jay Gould II claimed the gold and Charles Sands competed but lost in the first round. It made a brief reappearance at the 1924 Games before fading away.
7. Lacrosse
Despite lacrosse’s relative popularity in the English-speaking world, it never really caught on as an Olympic sport. It made the programme in the 1904 and 1908 Games, and since then only five teams combined entered the event over the two Games. Every team that played won a medal. Lacrosse was a demonstration sport at the 1928, 1932 and 1948 Games, but it never regained its medal status (though lacrosse players and enthusiasts are working hard to change that).
8. Rackets
If you haven’t noticed a pattern yet, it’s worth pointing out that if you hosted an early set of Games, you could pretty much railroad whatever sport you wanted to onto the programme to help your countrymen get medals. The rackets competition at the 1908 Games in London was no exception; every single entrant was British.
9. Polo
Apparently the Olympics could never quite figure out how to handle polo, as it popped on and off the programme throughout the first 40 years of the modern Games. Polo was a medal sport at five different Games, with competitions appearing in 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, and 1936. Only the British team competed in all of these Games and won a total of six medals, including three golds.
10. Water motor sports
Motorboat racing first appeared as a demonstration sport at the 1900 Games, and in 1908 it received full medal status. Captains in three classes were set to race five laps around an eight-nautical-mile course in the only Olympic event to ever involve motors. However, the English weather didn’t feel like complying and whipped up a ferocious gale.
Source: www.mentalfloss.com
