For the Paris 2024 Games, several disciplines will integrate the Olympic program for this new edition of the sporting event: breakdance,sport climbing, skateboarding and surfing. Indeed, since 2014, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has offered each Olympic Games host city the opportunity to integrate new sports into their edition's Olympic program as additional sports. These disciplines are added to the rich permanent Olympic program, which already includes no fewer than 41 sporting disciplines, ranging fromathletics to swimming, volleyball, gymnastics, cycling, pentathlon, wrestling...
Yet the Olympic program wasn't always similar to the one we'll see at the Paris 2024 Olympics, and some disciplines were, along the way, withdrawn. Among the "sports" that have disappeared from the Olympic calendar is live pigeon shooting, which was present at the 1900 Paris Olympic Games. Banned to this day, the discipline involved shooting live birds with a rifle before they flew away. There's also cricket, a game that originated in Great Britain and was only introduced at the 1900 Games, and croquet, which was the first sport in which women were allowed to compete at the Games.
In 1908, at the London Olympic Games, jeu de paume and motonautisme - a motorboat race - were presented for the first (and last) time in their short Olympic history. Slightly more popular, polo - a discipline practiced on horseback - saw several editions of the Games, before being withdrawn from the program after the Berlin Summer Games in 1936. Even more unusual, tug-of-war was a very popular discipline at the ancient Olympic Games: it was a matter of course to include this sport in the program of the modern Games, as early as the Paris Games in 1900. However, the discipline was withdrawn from the Olympic program at the Antwerp Games in 1920.
Paris 2024 Games: history, rules, athletes, everything you need to know about the Olympic sports on the programme
The flagship sporting event of the decade and of 2024 for the French, the Paris Olympic Games are fast approaching! While you're waiting for the competition, brush up on your knowledge of the sports on the program and discover some of the lesser-known ones! [Read more]
Lack of teams, amateur athletes, lack of popularity... There were many reasons why certain disciplines were withdrawn from the Olympic program! To find out which disciplines are on the Olympic program for Paris 2024, visit our dedicated page!
Paris 2024 Games: history, rules, athletes, everything you need to know about the Olympic sports on the programme
