11 Surprising Olympic Events That No Longer Exist

As the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics continue the long tradition of captivating the attention of the world, curious viewers may find themselves in the very specific mood that comes around once every two years of watching every Olympics-related movie and looking up incredibly random Olympic history and trivia. "What country has won the most Olympic medals?" "What's the most dangerous Olympic event?" "What are some of the most obscure Olympic events?" (That last one will send you down an internet rabbit hole). To most people’s surprise, there have been some very odd events in the past. To help fulfill your curiosity and build your Olympic trivia knowledge, here are some seriously weird Olympic sports that no longer exist. Spoiler alert: It's not difficult to figure out why most of them were phased out.

For many casual Olympic viewers, the idea of pairing cross-country skiing with target shooting seems like an incredibly random combination of talents. And yet, the biathlon is alive and well in the Winter Olympics. And lots of people continue to be baffled that table tennis is an Olympic event — and a highly competitive one at that. But beyond these potentially confusing, but well-accepted events there are some now-defunct events that were simply straight up bizarre.

Here’s a look at 11 Summer and Winter Olympic sports that no longer exist — and honestly, everyone is fine without them.

Horse Long Jumping

Everyone knows the track and field event of long jumping, wherein typically very tall, long-legged people run and then jump as far as they can into a sand pit. However, horses had their go at the sport once, too. The first and only time horse long jumping was held was at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris — and it’s doubtful that it will make a return, even as the Summer Games return to Paris in 2024. The majority of horses could make it at least 14 feet. And the winning jump? Twenty feet — which happens to be a whole nine feet and four inches shorter than the world record for the log jump for humans.

Equestrian Vaulting

If you're unfamiliar with this unique talent, it's exactly what it sounds like: jumping and doing other acrobatic moves on a horse's back. Pretty wild, no? Equestrian vaulting was only ever an official Olympic event in 1920, held in Antwerp, Belgium. It was among the other equestrian events at the Summer Olympics that year, including show jumping, eventing, and dressage. Plus, only three countries — France, Germany, and Sweden — took part in the sport that year, and that was the final time the event was held at any Olympic games. To be fair, it doesn’t sound like it was that competitive of a field.

Water Motorsports

In 1900 in Paris, motorboat racing, also called powerboating, made its first appearance at the Olympics as a demonstration sport. Then in 1908, at the Olympic Games held in London, it was fully fledged — and not just as one event, but as three different ones with only men participating. What happened? Apparently, the wind in England was so brutal for the sport that many boats ended up filling with water, had engine issues, and other problems that forced competitors to quit. In the end, the host nation of Great Britain walked away with two of the three gold medals, with France claiming the third, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Live Pigeon Shooting

Shooting at targets is a pretty common thing in the Olympics (re: bullseye, skeet, and trap shooting events in the summer and biathlon in the winter). However, for competitors not aiming at bullseye targets, but rather at things in the air, they usually shoot at disc-shaped targets called clay pigeons. In the 1900 Paris Olympic games, however, they used real pigeons. After over 300 birds were killed during the event, officials decided against using live targets moving forward — hence the clay pigeons. It’s a good thing, too, because that event would definitely be a controversial one if still happening today.

Pistol Dueling

Yes, for real, like Hamilton-style pistol dueling. But relax — it’s not as deadly as it first sounds (after all, we’ve left the Coliseum-era live dueling and killing events in the past). Instead of real bullets, Olympians used bullets made of wax during the 1906 Athens Olympic Games and 1908 London Olympics. Whew! For the Athens Summer Games, competitors simply shot at dummies, not at each other. However, in 1908, people gathered and watched as the competition involved two male athletes firing the wax bullets at each other with dueling pistols, while wearing protective equipment for their torsos, faces, and hands.

Singlestick

For background, singlestick is a martial art that uses a wooden stick as its weapon. It has its history as a way of training soldiers in the use of real swords. Back in 1904, competitors in the singlestick event tried to hit each other with wooden clubs. In a way, this sport is kind of like fencing, and it was actually considered a part of the fencing program at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri. For the record, there were only three people competing from two nations at the first (and only) Olympic singlestick event — and Cuba took home the gold.

Rope Climb

The rope climb event existed in the Olympic games way back in the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens — the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. The event was exactly what it sounds like (climbing up a rope), and the athletes were judged on form and speed. After those games, however, the event simply became a race to the top. The last rope-climbing event was in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. In a way, it’s not too far from the rock climbing events (officially called sport climbing) that were introduced at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, wherein one of the events is speed climbing (AKA get to the top as fast as you can).

Solo Synchronized Swimming

To be fair, this is probably the least weird of the Olympic sports that no longer exist in this list — it’s just a bit confusing when you think about it. The term "solo synchronized swimming" sounds like a huge contradiction at first — who are they synchronizing with if the athletes are alone? The "synchronized" part simply referred to the fact that a swimmer's movements were in-sync with the music — not, you know, themselves — so, in a way it’s not too different from figure skaters who also choreograph their programs to music. The solo synchronized swimming event first showed up during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and then reappeared in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games and the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

Tug Of War

Most people consider tug-of-war more suitable for something like a middle school field day or an old-school company picnic — or Squid Game. However, this sport was once a full-fledged, legit Olympic event. When you think about it, the act of tug-of-war actually requires a lot of strength if you’re doing it at that competitive of a level. Tug-of-war debuted at the 1900 Olympics in Paris and continued for five Olympics after that. At the 1904 Olympics held in St. Louis, Missouri, the USA even walked away with the gold. Tug-of-war officially ended as an Olympic sport after the 1920 Games in Antwerp.

Plunging For Depth

In 1904, there used to be an Olympic event during which competitors simply jumped into the water to see how deep they could dive while keeping their arms and legs still. The official depth was read 60 seconds after participants' heads hit the water. Considering there doesn't seem to be much actual skill involved in such an event — it’s not like the athletes were doing deep sea diving or trying to stay under water for as long as they could — it's no wonder plunging for depth was only around for that one year. If anything, all you needed to win was a lot of muscle and weight propelling you down, as opposed to a tangible athletic skill.

Ski Ballet

Although it wasn't an official medaling event, ski ballet did make appearances at two Winter Olympic Games — once in 1988 in Calgary, Canada, and then again in 1992 in Albertville, France — which is surprisingly recent to be on this list. Ski ballet is exactly what it sounds like: Choreographed movements while on skis. Sure, it may be bizarre, but it's actually pretty entertaining to watch and full of athletic and artistic skill. The sport was so unpopular, however, that even the International Ski Federation ceased all formal competition of ski ballet after 2000, which is a major bummer for all those who did pursue the sport.

With so many events on the program for both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, it only makes sense that some of the least-popular ones would ultimately get the boot. Still, it is pretty cool that there was some level of experimentation, particularly in the early 1900s. Perhaps everyone should count their blessings that they don’t have to watch people shooting real pigeons on live TV or horses completing a long jump.