Live Pigeon Shooting and Plunging for Distance: 16 Cancelled Olympic Sports

The magisterial collection of sport and athletic prowess we all know as the Olympic Games evolve with the times. New sports get added, while old events get cut. That’s why chariot racing isn’t an event, despite its illustrious beginnings in antiquity. The sensibilities and values of the people organizing the events also play a role – in the early years of the modern competition, for example, the founder, Pierre de Coubertin, included intellectual pursuits either as distinct events or rolled into others. Painting, musical composition, and writing were all scored in some capacity early on, or were at least proposed. Yeah, they didn’t last too long in the grand scheme of the games. Many other, well, quaint events were only part of a single year’s games, or only lasted a couple. For better or worse (some certainly for the worse entertainment wise, in our opinion), here are some competitions you won’t see in the Olympics anymore.