Live Pigeon Shooting and Plunging for Distance: 16 Cancelled Olympic Sports
![Live Pigeon Shooting and Plunging for Distance: 16 Cancelled Olympic Sports](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/7/787747_320x180.jpg)
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.
![CANCELLED GRACKED.COM OLYMPIC EVENTS The 1920 Olympics included Equestrian Vaulting The horses didn't jump. Competitors jumped onto, off of and over one or more horses.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/5/787765.jpg)
Source: Top End Sports
![CANCELLED GRACKED.COM OLYMPIC EVENTS Live Pigeon Shooting was an event in 1900. Nearly 300 birds were killed in total. The winner shot 22.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/4/787764.jpg)
Source: Top End Sports
![CANCELLED GRACKED.COM OLYMPIC EVENTS From 1924-1936 the Olympics gave out medals for Alpinism the best mountain climbing feat over the past four years. The first awards included posthumus Gold Medals for 7 Sherpas who died in an Everest avalanche.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/6/787766.jpg)
Source: Mental Floss
![CANCELLED GRACKED.COM OLYMPIC EVENTS 71 The 1900 Olympics included a Swimming Obstacle Course held in the River Seine. Compet- itors had to swim over a pole, clamber over a row of boats, then swim under another row of boats.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/3/787763.jpg)
Source: nuotounostiledivita.it
![CANCELLED GRACKED.COM OLYMPIC EVENTS Solo Synchronized Swimming was in the 1984 and 1992 Olym- pics. It sounds like an oxymoron, but competitors synchronized their swimming to music.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/2/787762.jpg)
Source: Time.com
![CANCELLED GRACKED.COM OLYMPIC EVENTS Tug of War was too controversial for the Olympics. In 1908 the U.S. team accused the Liverpool Police team of wearing extra-heavy boots. The Liverpudlians offered a shoe- less rematch, but America declined.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/1/787761.jpg)
Source: Top End Sports
![CANCELLED GRACKED.COM OLYMPIC EVENTS The 1908 Olympics had three kinds of Motor Boat races Gale-force winds meant only one competitor completed each race. Mechanical propulsion is now banned from Olympic competitions.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/0/787760.jpg)
Source: Fox News
![CANCELLED GRACKED.COM OLYMPIC EVENTS Croquet was a sport at the 1900 Olympics. France won all the medals, because no one else entered.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/7/787757.jpg)
Source: Oxford Croquet
![CANCELLED CRACKED.COM OLYMPIC EVENTS Gold Medal Sculpture In 1912, American Walter Winans became the first and only Olympian in history to win medals for both art and sport: Sculpture and Running Target Shooting](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/5/787755.jpg)
Sources: Mental Floss and Artnet.com
![CANCELLED GRACKEDO OLYMPIC EVENTS Silver medal painting, 1924 At Olympics from 1912 to 1948 medals were given for various Visual Arts including sports-themed paintings, prints, watercolors, engravings and oils.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/9/787759.jpg)
Sources: Irish Central and Smithsonian
![CANCELLED GRACKED.COM OLYMPIC EVENTS Until 1948 the Olympics included a competition for music inspired by sport Entries were submitted on paper, not performed, making it very hard for judges.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/4/787754.jpg)
Source: Valley Advocate
![CANCELLED GRACKEDO OLYMPIC EVENTS Baron Coubertin Founder of the modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, won the first Gold Medal for Literature in 1912 with his poem Ode to Sport. He used a pseudonym; no-one knew he won until 1919.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/8/787758.jpg)
Source: Seeker.com
![CANCELLED GRACKED.COM OLYMPIC EVENTS Silver Medal Stadium Design, 1924 the - you Architecture was an Olympic event from 1912 to 1948, with Gold Medals awarded for stadium designs and a ski jump hill.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/2/787752.jpg)
Source: Architectureau.com
![CANCELLED CRACKED OLYMPIC EVENTS In the 1908 Olympics, Underwater Swimming was scored in time and distance. The bronze medal winner actually swam longest, but went in circles instead of a straight line.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/3/787753.jpg)
Source: Sports Reference
![CANCELLED GRACKED.COM OLYMPIC EVENTS Plunge For Distance was in the 1904 Olympics. Athletes ran and dove in the pool, then remained motionless until surfacing. The Gold Medal winner got 62 1/2 feet. Newspapers called it tedious.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/0/787750.jpg)
Sources: KSDK.com and Newstalk870
![CANCELLED GRACKED.COM OLYMPIC EVENTS 250 50 15 I 230T XXIII OLYMPICS INDIA HRA Weightlifting may be eliminated from future Olympics, due to ongoing allegations of doping, vote-rigging and corruption.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/6/787756.jpg)
Source: Chicago Tribune
![CANCELLED CRACKED.COM OLYMPIC EVENTS BONUS EVENT! Modern Olympics founder Baron Coubertin wanted an Olympic event combining a 14km race and a written essay, to show prowess in mind and body. It never took place.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/1/787751.jpg)
Source: Mental Floss