Discontinued Olympic Sports
Events > Olympics > Discontinued
Past Sports of the Olympics
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It is fascinating the number and variety of sports that have
at one time been part of the Olympic Games. Since the first modern Games in 1896, 10 sports have disappeared completely from the Olympic schedule. These are croquet, cricket, Jeu de Paume, pelota, polo, roque, rackets, tug-of-war, lacrosse and motor boating.
Two sports that were previously listed here as discontinued have made a surprising comeback: golf and rugby were voted back in as official sports for Rio 2016. Added to this is a large number of discontinued events from sports that are still on the program, such as the swimming events of plunge for distance and underwater swimming, the track and field events of the standing highjump and tug-of-war, and the shooting events of pigeon shooting and duelling pistol, and tandem cycling. You can have a look at the complete list of all discontinued sports, or my list of some the more unusual sports.
In the past, the host country often included their own sports. Some of the discontinued events were simply updated to metric distances or modified into the well-known events of today, especially in track and field and swimming. There are also some interesting sports that were included as demonstration sports, some eventually becoming part of the official program, others disappearing as they should. See more about demonstration sports and the complete list of demo sports.
If you are searching for more information, see the Resources section or try these Books on Olympic History.
Related Pages
- For information about sports currently on the Olympic program, see the Summer Olympic Games or Winter Olympic Games sites.
- Try our Discontinued Olympic Events Quiz as part of the Olympic Games Quiz Questions.
- Read about other major World Sporting Events.
- Read the Olympics entries on the sporting blog.
- Olympic symbols and images in the clipart section.
- Videos of Olympic Games Discontinued Sports and Demonstration Sports.
- Olympic Games fun
