Olympic Spirit

2021 Olympics will have 33 sports including five new additions, surfing, sport climbing, skateboarding, karate, and baseball/softball. Since the modern Olympics began in 1896, many sports have been added and subtracted. Some of these are questionable as sports.

Take for instance, solo synchronized swimming with the keyword being solo which means only one person, but who would that swimmer be competing against if it is suppose to be synchronized, occurs at the same time or rate. This event was actually introduced at the 1984 Olympics and cancelled by 1992.

Another canceled sport if this can be called a sport was horse high jumping and long jumping. Pity the poor horse. Motor boating only lasted one Olympic in 1908 when people thought that going fast could make your head explode. Boats in the competition never got over 20 m.p.h.

Two so-called sports that lasted only one Olympics that are head scratchers were Live Pigeon Shooting where the object of the competition was to shoot and kill as many pigeons as possible. This was the only Olympic event ever that involved killing live animals.

The other “sporting” event that only lasted one year was Pistol Dueling which from history we know never has a happy ending for at least one participant.

There are some strange events in the history of the Olympics, one being Race Walking where the rules are you walk as fast as you can for 20 kilometers (nearly 13 miles) and always have one foot on the ground. And steeplechase begun in 1896 which requires runners to run, jump over hurdles, and water for 3,000 meters or 1.864114 miles. Originally, steeplechase was an English sport that required runners to run from one church steeple to the next church steeple, possibly in another town.

Where are they now, the Olympic winners of rope climbing and tug of war, both actual events at one time or another.

One of the greatest challenges for viewers in the United States is to figure out your meters and kilometers. We also will not understand the object of many of the sports such as handball, water polo, artistic gymnastics, or what’s the difference in volleyball and beach volleyball except the obvious, sand.

Is there a budding Olympian in Jasper County? Get the Spirit.