9 peculiar summer Olympic sports that have been discontinued

Photo by: jronaldlee

Croquet — 1900, Paris

While croquet doesn't exactly fall under the "enthralling" category, this genteel - but no doubt competitive … just ask the "Heathers" - form of lawn recreation that was briefly all the rage in Victorian England was indeed an official sport in the Olympics program. Much to the dismay of croquet enthusiasts everywhere, it was a short-lived phenomenon. During the Summer Olympics of 1900, the croquet event ... more 

Photo by: jronaldlee

Croquet — 1900, Paris

While croquet doesn't exactly fall under the "enthralling" category, this genteel - but no doubt competitive … just ask the "Heathers" - form of lawn recreation that was briefly all the rage in Victorian England was indeed an official sport in the Olympics program. Much to the dismay of croquet enthusiasts everywhere, it was a short-lived phenomenon. During the Summer Olympics of 1900, the croquet event had only one spectator, an Englishman. And the players were all French. Croquet (kind of) reappeared at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis in the form of roque, an Americanized variant of the game in which the traditional grass playing surface is replaced by a hard court and the mallets have shorter handles. And to be clear, although croquet was the lawn game du jour in mid-19th century England, an earlier variation of the game called paille-maille ("ball-mallet") was popular across Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.
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