Cricket at the Olympics?

Yes, our national obsession. But at the turn of the last century, only two nations played cricket at the Paris Olympics: Great Britain and France !. The British team consisted of embassy staffers. England won the two-innings match by 158 runs. One report said: 8216;The French temperament is too excitable to enjoy the game and no Frenchman can be persuaded to play more than once.8217; That was the last time the gentleman8217;s game found a place8212;amongst Parisians or at the Olympics.

Tug of war 1900-1920

Originally, clubs represented nations, but no one told India that8212;we could surely have found one in Najafgarh! In 1908, when Great Britain beat America in just a few seconds, the unhappy losers accused Team GB, all of them policemen, of wearing illegal spiked boots.

Club swinging 1904, 1932

Involved swinging a club festooned with ribbons very quickly around the body and head, in a complicated routine. A bit like what they do in our akhadas. Its last outing at the Games saw American George Roth, unemployed and hungry, win gold, then hitchhike home.

Live pigeon shooting 1900

Animal lovers may like to delete Paris 1900 from Olympic history. It8217;s the only Olympic event ever where animals were deliberately harmed: 300 pigeons killed. Belgium8217;s Leon de Lunden had the dubious distinction of winning gold, shooting down 21 birds.

Long jump for horses 1900

Yes, an event for horses, but nobody knows if the animals mounted the podium to collect their medals. Extra Dry won the contest at the Paris Olympics with a jump of 20 feet and a quarter of an inch. That8217;s 2.63 metres short of the current world record that humans hold.

Swimming obstacle race 1900

Swim the river Seine, climb up and down a pole, then go over and under several boats. Let8217;s see if Phelps can do that to improve his tally.