8 weird Olympic events that no longer exist

Although the Olympic games have ancient roots in Greece, the modern Olympic Games started in 1896 in Athens. And what a wild first few decades it was. While the International Olympic Committee was still new, the organization dipped its toes into lots of odd, one-off events to see what viewers and attendees would be most interested in.

Here a few events that are no longer part of the Games, for better or for worse. 

SEE ALSO: Skateboarding and surfing are among the 6 sports added to the 2020 Olympic Games

Equestrian vaulting

According to the American Vaulting Association, horse vaulting — a sport in which riders do pirouettes, handstands, and all sorts of other acrobatic feats on top of a horse’s back — has been around since the Roman games. 

But it was only in the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp that it got its own modern Olympic event, and even then, only three countries participated: Germany, France, and Sweden. That was the only horse vaulting competition in Olympic history.

Horse long jumping

The only horse long jump event took place in the 1900 Olympics in Paris. Most of the horses could reach at least 14 feet, and the winning jump was 20 feet. That's still 9 feet and 4 inches less than the world record for a human long jump, however. 

Pistol dueling

Yes, pistol dueling was an Olympic sport. No, they didn’t use real bullets — they were made of wax. Pistol duels debuted in the 1908 London Olympics, and great precautions were taken. In 1908, Popular Mechanics reported that duelers would protect their pistol arms with a heavy guard, and keep their faces behind plate glass.

After 1908, Americans took notice and turned pistol dueling into a public sport. The first public exhibition of the sport in the US took place in Carnegie Hall in New York in 1909, where the New York Times said the crowd was excited by the thought of “supposedly fatal results.”