Painting used to be an Olympic sport

In the latest in his series on striking images, our columnist looks at some of the stranger activities included in the Games THE NAKED EYE

BRITAIN’S Alfred Reginald Thompson painted his way to a gold medal at the 1948 Olympic Games, with a canvas depicting a boxing match. Britain also managed to win a silver in the sculpture competition, with a statue of a stag by an artist named Kar. But it was decided by the International Olympic Committee in 1949 to drop art from the Games. It was judged illegal to allow professionals to compete in events when only amateur athletes were permitted in other sports. So, sadly, we have now missed out on Britain increasing its medal haul with Damien Hirst’s pickled sheep, or Tracey Emin’s bed waltzing away with the top prizes.

Since the first modern games in 1896 a number of other sports have also disappeared from the schedule. Perhaps some of us will miss croquet? Certainly America will mourn the loss of baseball, in which they would, of course, be preeminent. But in fairness, the nations within the British Commonwealth will be dismayed that cricket was also dropped.

Polo, rackets and lacrosse have all gone, along with pelota, tug-of-war and softball. We are not able to watch underwater swimming contests, the standing high-jump, distance diving or one-handed weightlifting.

Norway leads in the number of medals won in Winter Olympics, at 263, whereas the US leads the medal tally in the Summer Games with an impressive 2,189. Until 2012, the single competitor with the most medals was Larisa Latynina, a Soviet gymnast who elegantly twirled off the podium with 18 — she was overtaken by American swimming legend Michael Phelps, who won 28.

It appears that you are never too young to compete — 10-year-old Dimitrios Loundras won a bronze medal for gymnastics in the 1896 Games in Athens — or too old, like Oscar Swahn, who won a silver medal while shooting for Sweden in 1920 at the Games in Antwerp, Belgium, at the age of 72.

You will be disappointed, should you ever win a gold medal, to discover that is not in fact made of gold — and hasn’t been for around

100 years. Gold medals are actually silver, with a thin layer of gold plating.

Prior to athletes being suspended for drug enhancement, a Swedish pentathlete was disqualified in 1968 after testing positive for alcohol — at a steep enough level to appear fairly comprehensively drunk.

An American marathon runner, Fred Horz, was denied his splendid victory after it was learned he had hitched a ride in a car during the race.

The Olympics were first televised in the US in 1960 but the enormous viewing figures they attract globally would certainly be even greater if they still followed the tradition of the Ancient Greek Olympics.

Athletes competed entirely in the nude — though of course in those days only men were allowed to compete. Imagine the worldwide TV audience boost if today naked women were also performing.

In fact, women were only allowed to take part at all during the 1900 Games, as previously their inclusion was felt to be “impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic and incorrect”.

From the mid-Forties women were obliged to undergo a sex test in order to prove that they were in fact fully female — in 1976 the only exception to the rule was Princess Anne.

All other women were humiliatingly obliged to bring their “femininity certificates” in order to be able to compete.

Perhaps being treated in this fashion drove Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser to swim a wide moat to steal the Olympic flag — it had been displayed in front of the Emperor’s palace during the Tokyo Games in 1964. She was immediately banned from the Olympics for 10 years.

But Ms Fraser was still named Australian of the Year.

Charles Saatchi’s new book is We Are Bananas, published by Palazzo

Polo, rackets and lacrosse have all gone, along with pelota, tug-of-war and softball