... and who could forget the horse long jump final?

THE Olympics has a long history of peculiar events, including:

HORSE LONG JUMP (1900)

Featured only at the 1900 Paris Games. Constant Octave van Langhendonck and his mount Extra-Dry jumped 20ft to strike gold for Belgium.

LIVE PIGEON SHOOTING (1900)

The only time animals have been killed on purpose at an Olympic Games. The objective was to shoot as many birds as possible, with almost 00 pigeons being gunned down.

UNDERWATER SWIMMING (1900)

Competitors gained two points for every metre they swam and another point for every second they spent underwater, with France’s Charles Devendeville swimming 60m to win gold. Denmark’s Peder Lykkeberg stayed under longer than Devendeville but achieved a distance of only 28.5m as he swam in a circle.

TUG OF WAR (1900-1920)

Contested at five Games. Nations were able to enter multiple teams, with the City of London Police beating the Liverpool force to gold in 1908.

WATER MOTORSPORTS (1908)

The three races – held at Southampton Water – were a disaster. France won gold in Class A after the British boat, their only rivals, ran aground. Britain won Class B after the two other boats sank, and also won Class C when their opponents had to be towed off the course.

POETRY (1912-1948)

Competitors had to submit work ‘inspired by the idea of sport’. A British silver medal winner from the 1924 Paris Games, Sword Songs, was 7 pages long.