I bet you would be surprised to know about some sports that were once in the Olympics that are no longer there. There are a number of sports that have been discontinued* from the Olympics over the years and interestingly some that were once eliminated are now coming back. Here is some information about sports that once were Olympic events, but are not any more.
Olympic sports that are no more:
Tug of War
Tug of war is a contest in which two teams pull at opposite ends of a rope until one drags the other over a central line. It is hard to believe this was a sport that was ever in the Olympics, but it was in every Olympics from 1900 to 1920. In the United States this is a game often played by children on the playground.
Croquet
Croquet is a game played on a lawn, in which colored wooden balls are hit through a series of small openings (called wickets) by using a mallets (a hammer with a large wooden head). In the United States this a summertime game that people often play in their yards. Croquet was played in only one Olympic Games, in 1900.
Cricket
Cricket is a game played on a large grass field with a ball, bats, and two wickets. This sport is played between teams with eleven players. The object of the game is to score more runs than the opposing team. This is still a very popular sport in England, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, but the sport does not have world wide popularity which may be why it is not in the Olympics now. Cricket was only in the Olympic games once, in 1900.
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team game, that was created by North American Indians. In this game a small ball is thrown, caught, and carried with a stick that has a net on it. Lacrosse has some popularity in the English-speaking world, but is not played in many other parts of the world. Lacrosse was only in the 1904 and 1908 Olympic Games.
Water Motorsports
It is hard to believe, but there was once a motor sport game in the Olympics, in the 1908 Olympics to be exact. In this sport captains raced five laps around an eight nautical-mile course in motor boats!
Golf
Golf is a game played on a large open-air grass course. In this game a small hard ball is struck with a club into a series of small holes in the ground. Golf made the Olympic in 1900 and 1904, but has not been back since…until 2016. Golf will be returning to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Rugby
Rugby is a team game played with an oval shaped ball that can be kicked, carried, and passed from hand to hand. Points are scored by grounding the ball behind the opponents’ goal line or by kicking it between the two posts. Rugby was played in a number of Olympics 1900, 1908, 1920, and 1924 before being discontinued, but like golf, rugby is coming back to the Olympics once again in 2016.
*discontinued = stopping something or stopping to provide something, which was provided on a regular basis
