Weird Olympic Events
We’re one week into the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (now 2021) and Great Britain have claimed a few gongs already. 🙌🏻
👉🏻 We'd like to give a special shout out to Tom Daley...a Devon boy done good.
😄 Winning is all good news for team GB and, let's face it makes it a much more enjoyable watch for us at home!
But did you know that these Olympics have got five new sports added to the mix. This year you’ll see surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing and karate introduced, along with the return of baseball after its last appearance in 2008’s Beijing Olympics.
We thought it’d be interesting to see what other sports have been in previous years, and found a few weird ones that we really didn’t expect. Here’s just a few of the many that we found super weird!
Rope Climbing:
Actually part of the gymnastics programming at the Olympics in 1896, 1906, 1924 and 1932. Originally competitors were judged on speed and style but by the later years medals were awarded for those who made it to the top first – the only rule being no legs allowed. Hmm - strong arms then...
Horse long jump and horse high jump:
These jumping events took place in Paris in 1900. A really weird one this...let’s face it, it's the horse that does all the work here...right?
Live Pigeon Shooting:
Yet another questionable event at the 1900 Paris Games, live pigeon shooting was true to its name - yep, actual live pigeons were used. The challenge was to shoot as many pigeons as possible in an allotted time. The winner, Belgium’s Leon de Lunden, (pictured below) killed 21 birds that day, with an estimated total of 300 killed in the entire competition.
Town Planning:
At four Olympic games between 1928 and 1948, medals, gold ones too, were given out for... town planning! It fell under the architectural design category of the arts portion of the Olympics(?) In the 1932 Games in Los Angeles, John Hughes won Gold for GB for ‘Design for a Sports and Recreation Centre with Stadium, for the City of Liverpool’. Yay! a Gold for GB ...but did the stadium ever get built..?
Solo Synchronized Swimming:
Dramatic - how does that even work..you ask? Well....apparently the swimmer synchronises to the music. It took three Olympics, for the organisers to decide this wasn't such a great idea!
Finally - we’d love to include this one…
Poodle Clipping.
At the 1900 Paris games, 128 people competed in a Parisian Park in front of a crowd of 6000 to see who could clip the fur off the most poodles in a two-hour period. The winner Avril Lafoule….and the date April 1st. 🤣
Get practising all Poodle owners….could be something to take part in as Paris is hosting the 2024 games. Get your clippers ready - you too could be an Olympian!
But if you like us, are just enjoying watching all these incredibly dedicated and focussed athlete's do their thing, make sure you've got your meal's planned.
We're here to help 😉 order in one of our Gold medal winning pie or pasty boxes...sit back, relax in front of the TV and binge !
FASTER - HIGHER - STRONGER
