Former Olympic Sports

When the world gathers for the Summer Olympics, most viewers from around the globe gather around their television sets to watch more track, field, and swimming than they do the rest of the four years combined. It’s a showcase for athletes and events that usually don’t get so much attention and a welcome break from professional athletes who don’t always seem to appreciate how good they have it.

Unfortunately for some Olympians of yesteryear, not every sport has survived the test of time. A few events that once merited inclusion on the program eventually fell by the wayside in later years.

Remember jeu de paume? Or roque?

Didn’t think so.

Here are just a few of the casualties, with the final year they were contested at the Olympics:

Jeu de paume (1908): Lawn tennis played without rackets. Participants hit the ball with their hands.

Power boating (1908): Someone evidently figured out that you didn’t need to be much of an athlete to drive a motorized boat.

Rackets (1908): An indoor game played with rackets, generally considered the precursor to squash.

Roque (1904): A variation on croquet played on a rolled sand court with permanently anchored wickets.

Tug of War (1920): The traditional test of strength, pitting two teams tugging at opposite ends of a rope.

Source: International Olympic Committee