The International Olympic Committee has plucked rugby and golf off the scrap heap for Rio 2016, restoring the two sports to their former status as official events at the Summer Games. But, while those two events might seem like reasonable choices for a second go-around at the Olympics, there are quite a few bizarre sports likely never to return to the Games.
Here's a look back at some of the most peculiar competitions held since the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
Tug of war
In this file photo, Nathan Carr, right, of the Falmouth Tug-O-War, bites his finger to get feeling back in his hands during the 15-minute-long tug of war final at the Highland Games in Antigonish, N.S. on Sunday, July 10, 2016. (Darren Calabrese / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
It might seem like a competition better suited to summer camp or gym class, but tug-of-war was actually an official Olympic event from 1900 until 1920. Eight men lined up on each side and attempted to pull the opposing team six feet from their starting position. The British took home the largest medal haul from the event, with two gold, two silver and a bronze after five competitions. No Canadian ever won a medal in the former Olympic sport.
Tug-of-war remains popular in the United Kingdom and in Scottish communities outside the U.K. Most major competitions are confined to highland games events, despite the occasional push from advocates to have it added back into the Olympics.
Rope-climb
In this Wednesday, July 11, 2012, file photo, Indian amateur boxers climb a rope during a training session at the Bhiwani Boxing Club in Bhiwani, India. (AP / Manish Swarup)
Another sport you might have encountered in grade-school gym class, rope climbing was part of the gymnastics program at the inaugural modern Olympics in Athens, in 1896. Athletes were judged not only on their ability to reach the top of the rope, but also on their speed and style.
That's right – there's a stylish way to climb a rope, although the style element was dropped from later Olympic Games. Rope-climbing athletes were hung out to dry after the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, when the event was dropped as an Olympic sport.
Pigeon shooting
In this Sept. 22, 2015 file photo, pigeons take off from a rooftop pigeon coop in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (Joshua Astor via AP)
If live pigeon-shooting were still an Olympic event, one might expect New York City to host the Games every time. However, the IOC deemed the practice unacceptable after only one Olympics, in 1900. Live pigeons were released for the competition in Paris, and competitors were challenged to blast as many of the birds as possible out of the sky. A reported 300 pigeons were killed.
The IOC switched to clay "pigeons" and cardboard cutouts of deer for later Olympic shooting events.
Pistol duelling
This Jan. 11, 2007 file photo shows actors in period costume recreating the pistol duel in which Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton. (AP / Marko Georgiev)
Shooting competitions were fairly commonplace in the early years of the modern Olympics, with a wide variety of events based around the premise of blasting holes in things. At the 1908 Olympics in London, for instance, the shooting element of the Games included such events as the Rapid-Fire Pistol, Military Rifle Teams, Running Deer Single Shot and Trap Shooting.
But the strangest shooting event ever held at a Summer Games might have been the duelling pistol competitions in 1906. Competitors would stand either 20 or 25 metres from a target, then wait for the command to fire. When the command was given, a competitor would raise the gun from his hip and attempt to hit the human-sized target in the chest.
The targets were dressed in coats to look like humans. However, pistol competitions in later years would replace the human targets with simpler, non-human ones.
The 1906 Intercalated Games were hosted by the Greeks as an Olympic event at the time, but the IOC later distanced itself from the Games. The duelling pistol records and medals are therefore no longer included in the Olympic history books.
Solo synchronized swimming
In this file photo, Carolyn Waldo of Canada shows fine form after completing her solo synchronized swimming program during Olympic competition in Seoul, 1988. (Fred Chartrand / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
When this sport was introduced in 1984, the public response could be summed up with one word: Huh? How do you swim in sync with yourself?
Solo synchronized swimmers were actually trying to swim in sync to a piece of music, but the solo event proved to be far less popular than the duet variant, which was also introduced in 1984. Solo synchronized swimming was scrapped after the 1992 Olympics, and a team version of the event was added for 1996. The team and duet versions of the sport remain popular Olympic events today.
Canada fared quite well in the solo category, winning two gold medals and a silver medal.
Roque and Croquet
In this Aug. 5, 2014 file photo, a man makes a shot as the sunsets at the National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP / J Pat Carter)
Whether you're a fan of croquet or its American cousin, roque, it's hard to argue that the two pastimes are legitimate sports, as they basically consist of carefully tapping a ball through a wire arch with a mallet.
It's also hard to argue that both events were anything less than a sham when they were held in 1900 and 1904, respectively.
The French added croquet to the list of Olympic sports for the Paris Games in 1900. A total of 10 players competed – all from France – and France naturally swept the event, taking home seven medals as a result. (Some croquet events did not award a silver or bronze medal.)
With the 1904 Summer Games in St. Louis, the host Americans booted croquet from the event list and replaced it with roque, an American variation on the mallet-and-ball competition. Only four individuals participated in the "sport," and all of them were from the United States, so the U.S. won all three medals handed out.
Neither sport has been played at the Olympics since.
Art contests
R. Tait McKenzie's 'Joy of Effort' medallion is shown. (Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority)
That's right – art used to be an Olympic pursuit. The IOC used to hand out gold, silver and bronze medals for sports-inspired artwork in the fields of music, painting, sculpture, graphic art, literature and architecture. There were even medals awarded for "designs for town planning" and "merit for mountaineering."
Canadian composer John Weinzweig won a silver medal in 1948 in the "music: composition for one instrument" category, and Canadian Robert Tait McKenzie won a bronze medal in the "sculpture: medals" category in 1932. Weinzweig won for his piece "Divertimenti for Solo Flute Strings," while McKenzie won for designing a medallion called "Joy of Effort" for the American Olympic Committee.
