The Olympics have been creeping up on us through the forest of top-class sport this summer. But now they’re here, the third time the summer Games have been held in Paris. The first was in 1900, and reflect what a very different place the world was then. There were old favourites such as track and field athletics and cycling, but less probably croquet, firefighting and fishing and – one to scare the pants off the woke warriors of today – live pigeon shooting, making its one and only appearance at the five-ringed circus.
Indeed an Olympic historian, reflecting on the fate of the luckless pigeons, said: ‘This disgusting event marked the only time in Olympic history when animals were killed on purpose.’ Nearly 300 birds met their maker, and a prize of up to 20,000 francs was awarded to the winners.
Breakdancing would seem pretty nuts if you tried to explain it to the Olympians
of 1900
More than a century later, skateboarding and breakdancing – known as ‘breaking’ – are making their Olympic debuts.
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