#9 Pigeon shooting and tug-of-war
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Killing animals on purpose occurred only once in the Olympics, in Paris 1900. About 300 birds were killed in this bizarre shooting event. There were two competitions, with a different set of rules obviously, but in both the events, the shooter who killed the most number of birds won the gold medal. Leon de Lunden of Belgium and Donald MacIntoshof Australia won the two events by killing 21 and 22 birds respectively.
If it was out of necessity that pigeon killing events were banned from the Olympics, but tug-of-war was removed because it wasn’t prestigious enough by International Olympic Committee standards. Tug-of-war was a part of the Games from 1900 to 1920 and one would feel its exclusion is a bit harsh. However, instances like the same country winning all three medals – like the USA did in 1904 – could occur.
If tug-of-war someday returns to the Games, the rules of the event should change from the ones which existed the last time it was a part of the Olympics nearly a century ago.
