With softball and baseball having their last showing at this year’s Olympics, it’s the perfect moment to dive into the world of 10 odd discontinued Olympic events. Some of these competitions were downright bizarre, leaving us to wonder how they ever earned a spot on the world’s grandest sporting stage.
10 Odd Discontinued Sports Overview
10. Swimming Obstacle Race
A wildly inventive, 200‑meter dash that turned swimming into an obstacle course. Racers first sprint to a pole, scramble up and down it, then continue swimming, clamber over two small boats, duck beneath two more, and finally sprint to the finish line. The race made a solitary appearance at the 1900 Paris Games, where Australia’s Frederick Lane claimed victory.
9. Static Dive
A delightfully absurd contest that likely attracted equally quirky participants. Held only once, in 1904, competitors plunged into a pool and remained perfectly still for up to 60 seconds—or until their heads bobbed above the surface. After the timer stopped, officials measured how far each diver floated. American William Dickey emerged as the champion, a point of pride for a field that, unsurprisingly, consisted entirely of U.S. athletes. No authentic photographs of the event survive, so a generic picture of women diving has been used.
8. Game of Palm
Known in French as “jeu de paume,” this ancestor of modern tennis replaced rackets with the hand or a small paddle. Though it still enjoys occasional play today, it was first showcased as an exhibition sport in 1900, entered the official Olympic program in 1908, and made a brief exhibition comeback in 1924.
7. Roque
An American twist on the French game of croquet, roque featured at the 1904 St. Louis Games. Since the sport was virtually unknown outside the United States, the field was comprised solely of American competitors. After the St. Louis edition, roque vanished from the Olympic roster, widely believed to have been included merely to pad the host nation’s medal tally.
6. Tug of War
Believe it or not, tug of war has a legitimate claim to an Olympic comeback, having roots that stretch back to the ancient Games. It featured in five modern editions—1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920. The British team amassed the most medals, highlighted by a 1908 gold captured by a squad of London police officers.
5. Standing Jump
It sounds odd to limit the world’s most explosive field events to a stationary start, but early Olympiads required athletes to perform the long, triple, and high jumps from a standing position. This format persisted from 1900 through 1912, offering a stark contrast to today’s running‑start spectacles.
4. Rope Climbing
Another contender for a future revival, rope climbing was part of the gymnastics program and appeared intermittently from 1896 to 1932. The 1904 Games produced a memorable champion: American George Eyser, who, despite having a wooden prosthetic leg, scaled the rope to claim gold and later added five more gymnastics medals, including two additional golds.
3. Shooting at a Mannequin
An aristocratic test of marksmanship—except the target was a mannequin dressed in finery, positioned 20 to 30 metres away. This peculiar event debuted at the 1906 Intercalated Games, resurfaced briefly in 1912, and was then expelled forever (thankfully).
2. Solo Synchronized Swimming
Synchronized swimming already raises eyebrows, but the solo variant pushes the absurdity further. Featured in the 1984, 1988, and 1992 Games, a single swimmer performed choreographed routines alone in the pool, attempting to match the music’s rhythm. Critics agree—it was as bewildering as it sounds.
1. Pigeon Shooting
The 1900 Paris Games hosted the only Olympic event where live animals were killed for sport. Over 300 pigeons were shot, many by Belgian marksman Léon de Lunden, who secured gold with 21 kills. The grim spectacle was promptly removed from the program and later replaced by the more humane clay‑pigeon version.