Discontinued Olympic Sport you would most like to see again

[Kellanved]

Edit: due to popular demand, "Racket" got replaced with "Rugby", both games were invented at the same school after all.

http://www.topendsports.com/events/discontinued/list.htm

[billbuckhead]

1. Chariot racing

[On the Road]

7. I Would Have to Second Chariot Racing

discontinued, I believe, in 228 AD.

[Kellanved]

13. good call

However I don't see the ancient and the modern Olympics to be related in any way other than name.

Could be a lot more enjoyable than the existing riding events though.

[Drifter]

2. Juggling ...

Actually Club Swinging was an event in 1 or 2 olypmics in the 20's.

Toss Juggling would be killer.

Cheers
Drifter

[Magrittes Pipe]

3. Voted cricket.

Tug-of-war would be good, too.

[rooboy]

11. Cricket would be too susceptable to bad weather, I'd reckon. n/t

[mrboba1]

20. wouldn't baseball and softball be just as

susceptible?

I'd love to see cricket - I never have and I really am interested in how its played.

Of course, NBC would never show it
:grr:

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. other: rugby

as rugby sevens. It's a great game - fast, easy to see what's going on, and is already normally played in tournaments that only last a few days - the matches are short, and teams are expected to be able to play a couple a day.

Some of the small Pacific island nations are very good at it, as well as the 'big rugby' nations like Australia, New Zealand or Britain. You might even get some American Football players good at it - imagine a game of continuous special teams play.

On edit: last played in 1924, the USA are in fact the reigning Olympic Champions.

[rooboy]

10. Rugby 7's probably won't happen...

but it is played in the Commonwealth Games, as I'm sure you know. Unfortunately the 15-a-side international calendar is so packed that the elite players are never available to play sevens. The world sevens series at the moment is full of players that nobody's ever heard of.

I would actually like to see womens rugby (15 a side) played at the Olympics - top 10 teams in 2 pools with semi final and finals to decide the medals.

[soothsayer]

5. naked ANYTHING!

well, except for naked butt pyramids....

[Renew Deal]

6. They should add Rugby

[AngryAmish]

8. Barrel jumping

[bkcc]

9. I vote for tug-of-war.

Considering that we have the highest percentage of overweight people in the world, we would own that event!

[guitar man]

12. How about a new one?

The freeper toss :evilgrin:

[bif]

14. Topless women's basketball

n/t

[JVS]

16. Topless women's donkey basketball!

[JVS]

15. Drinking contests!

[arwalden]

17. Discontinue: Equestrian -- Add: Rugby, Hi/Long Jumps, Cricket, Lacrosse

Equestrian... it's the HORSE that's doing the work. Yes, they were trained by trainers/riders... but our gymnasts have trainers too. And they don't get medals.

-- Allen

[JVS]

18. But little girls like horses

[arwalden]

21. Then Take Them To A Rodeo... Or A Circus...

Or a Civil War reenactment. :-)

-- Allen

P.S. I've always thought it was a bit creepy and unsettling how some girls are so attracted to horses and that perhaps such obsessions ought to be discouraged.

[Snow]

34. Hey! _I_ like horses! (and am a middle-aged guy)

I'm a mid-level amateur rider (is there any other kind?) and have done both jumping and dressage - more dressage than anything else. Here's the scoop: a) riding really is hard work and good exercise for the rider - you aren't just sitting there. 2) horses generally enjoy dressage; they find it interesting (I know, I'm anthropomorphizing and so on, but you can tell when a horse is enjoying something or not, they're pretty damn expressive).

Dancing with horses, aka dressage, is a martial art. I've been studying martial arts, mostly moodukwan, since being in Peace Corps in Korea many many years ago. Dressage is like martial arts forms or kata, except that you're doing it with a large, hairy, pointy-eared partner (and it's not Pagerbear) who may or may not be cooperative in this enterprise. It's good for the horses because it teaches them ways of carrying people that actually is better for them (ie, don't put your weight all on your front feet, shift it to your hindquarters).

Finally, it was/is a genuine martial art. In olden days when knights were bold, English knights generally used huge horses (think Clydesdales & shires, Suffolk Punches) who would come flying at you with 2000 lbs or so of weight plus knight with pointy thing (again, not Pagerbear). Your typical French or German knight with small, wimpy, inferior non-SUV European horse was in a fair way to get flattened. So, they trained the horses in a set of moves that would allow them to get out of the way while still causing damage....there's a moving-forward-diagonally move called a leg-yield, for example. Watch the Lippazaners of the Spanish Riding School sometime. That's beautiful stuff, but most of it is actually warfare....and better believe it, it's also damn good exercise.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. Other - NONE OF THEM

Too many events now. There's LOTS i would jettison already. I'd never add anymore.

Baseball: GONE (And i'm a baseball fan.)
Rhythmic Gymnastics: GONE
Synchronized Swimming: GONE
Softball: GONE (Dump baseball, and ya gotta dump softball.)
Equestrian Events: GONE The horses are the athletes.

Actually, i'd dump any sport where judging determines the winner. And still dump baseball and softball. It would lower the cost of staging and Olympics by a LOT.
The Professor

[The Flaming Red Head]

29. oops

[The Flaming Red Head]

22. Anything but bimbo beach volley ball

Did you see them rolling in the sand in their bikinis? They needed garter belts so people could put dollar bills in them.

[JVS]

23. Sweet!

[mrboba1]

26. Yes. yes, I did!

:evilgrin:

[The Flaming Red Head]

31. Female mud wrestling or lap dancing, next?

The sand coated lesbian embrace was every man's fantasy, but is it giving women's athletics a sporting chance at being considered serious? I just think it belonged in a bar room or concert hall like mud wrestling. How many pimple faces will ejaculate on that one for the next 20 years.

[Kellanved]

32. What about

"throwing slurs at women "? A fine sport that never can be practiced enough.

</tounge-in-cheek>

[The Flaming Red Head]

33. But, I didn't even mention the cheerleaders

What else would you call a bunch of women in tight clothes rolling around on the ground together for the benefit of the cameras?

[derby378]

24. Y'all forgot a big one

From the original Olympic games - PANKRATION! Dittoheads vs. Freepers!

(For those who don't know, pankration is similar to the modern-day Ultimate Fighting Championship. Biting and eye-gouging were prohibited, but everything else - including dislocating and breaking bones - was perfectly legal.)

[Magrittes Pipe]

25. The match lasted until one fighter either submitted or died.

Brilliant sport.

[Brewman_Jax]

28. Bring back pankration!

I saw the History Channel Olympics series. A sand pit, two combatants, officials. Straight to the point, last one standing wins. If it goes too long, the officials narrow the ring with staffs 'til there's a winner.

[henslee]

27. Doggy Frisbee

[chimpy the poopthrower]

30. Polo and Lacrosse

...seem like they would be the most exciting from that list.