Discontinued Olympic Sports
Events > Olympics > Discontinued > Sports > Tug of War
Tug-of-War at the Olympics
The tug of war event was held at the Olympics from 1900 to 1920.
Tug-of-war was always contested as a part of the track & field athletics programme, although it is now considered a separate sport. This may seem like an unusual Olympic sport, but in fact it was part of the Ancient Olympics, first being held in in 500BC.
In the modern Olympics, the tug-of-war contest was between two teams of eight. One team had to pull the other six feet along in order to win. If after 5 minutes no team had done this, the team which had pulled the most was declared the winner.
Results
1900
- Sweden & Denmark
- USA
- France
1904
- United States - Milwaukee Athletic Club
- United States - St Louis Southwest Tumverein I
- United States - St Louis Southwest Tumverein II
- United States - New York Athletic Club
1906
- Germany & Switzerland
- Greece
- Sweden
1908
- Great Britain - City of London Police
- Great Britain - Liverpool Police
- Great Britain - Metropolitan Police
1912
- Sweden
- Great Britain
- none
1920
- Great Britain
- Netherlands
- Belgium
Notes
- Constantin Henriquez de Zubiera, competing for France in 1900, was the first black athlete to compete at the Olympics.
- The biggest controversy came in 1908 when the Liverpool police team competed in "enormous shoes, so heavy, in fact, it was with great effort they could lift their feet from the ground." The rules had stipulated ordinary shoes, and the Americans protested, but to no avail. The U.S. team subsequently withdrew.
Related Pages
- See the fFull list of Discontinued Events
