在奧運會發(fā)展初期，人們想方設法豐富奧運項目，將各種成熟或不成熟的運動引進奧運會。這些項目有的長期保留了下來，有的卻如曇花一現(xiàn)。被淘汰的這些項目里不乏一些奇怪的運動，著實讓人驚訝不已，甚至忍俊不禁。

Tug-of-War

拔河

Tug-of-War， which is now pretty much reserved for church picnics， summer camp color wars2) and \"Real World/Road Rules Challenge3)\" events， was an actual Olympic sport in 1900， 1904， 1908， 1912 and 1920.

Olympic tug-of-war was eight-on-eight， and would be won when one team pulled the rope six feet. In the five Olympics， Great Britain won the most tug-of-war medals (two gold， two silver， one bronze) and the U.S. won the second most (one of each medal).

One more note: Back then， a lot of Olympic athletes were just regular dudes4) who happened to show up to the right place on the right day. So the Olympic tug-of-war squads5) weren''''t handpicked teams of athletes groomed6) from birth like our Olympians today. No， the U.S.''''s 1904 gold medal winning tug team was the tug-of-war team from the Milwaukee Athletic Club. In 1908， the gold went to the London police force''''s team.

拔河這一項目現(xiàn)在一般只在教堂野餐、夏令營顏色大戰(zhàn)以及《真實世界/公路競技版》中才會出現(xiàn)。而事實上，拔河曾是一項奧運賽事，在1900、1904、1908、1912和1920年的奧運會上都舉行過。

奧運會的拔河比賽雙方各8人，以最先將繩子拉過河界6英尺(譯注：約合1.8米)為勝。在這5屆奧運會中，英國在拔河比賽中獲得的獎牌最多(2金、2銀、1銅)，美國次之(1金、1銀、1銅)。

再補充一下：在那個年代，許多奧運選手都只是普通的人，他們不過是在正確的時間(比賽當天)出現(xiàn)在正確的地點(比賽場地)罷了。也就是說，和現(xiàn)在從一出生就開始受訓的奧運選手不同，當時的奧運會拔河隊并不是由精心挑選出來的隊員所組成的。噢，不對，在1904年那屆奧運會上奪冠的美國拔河隊來自密爾沃基體育俱樂部，而1908年的金牌則由倫敦警察組成的拔河隊摘得。

Plunge for Distance

水上跳遠

OK， you know how when you were， like， six， you and your friends all stood at the edge of a pool to see who could jump in the furthest? That was once an Olympic event.

At the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis， there was an event called plunge for distance. A diver would stand stationary7) on the edge of a pool， then， from that stand still， jump as far as possible. Once they got underwater， they could glide8) forward for up to 60 seconds ... or as long as they could keep their head below the surface. Only five people competed and all of them were from the U.S. The winner was William Dickey， who made it 62.5 feet. That doesn''''t seem like that far.

Like most of the events on this list， plunge for distance was a one-and-done event， never appearing again.

嗯，你應該還記得，在你差不多6歲的時候，和小伙伴一起站在游泳池邊往下跳看誰跳得最遠的經(jīng)歷吧？這種跳水方式曾是一項奧運賽事呢。

1904年圣路易斯奧運會有一項比賽叫做“水上跳遠”。潛水者先是一動不動地站在游泳池邊，接著便以這種靜止站立的姿勢盡力向遠跳。入水后，運動員可以繼續(xù)向前滑行60秒鐘(編注：運動員被禁止用手或腳劃水推動身體向前)……或直到自己堅持不住把頭伸出水面為止。當時僅有5人參加了此項比賽，都是美國人。威廉·迪基以62.5英尺(譯注：約合18.75米)的成績奪得金牌?？雌饋硪膊皇呛苓h么。

正如這張名單所列舉的很多其他項目一樣，水上跳遠也不過是曇花一現(xiàn)，以后再也沒有舉行過。

Live Pigeon Shooting

活鴿射擊比賽

There''''s only been one Olympic event in history where animals were (intentionally) harmed. And that was live pigeon shooting in 1900 Paris Olympics. The goal of the event was to stand there with your gun and kill as many pigeons as possible. For the event， more than 300 pigeons were shot and killed. Leon de Lunden of Belgium won the event with 21 kills. It was the first and last time animals were killed for an Olympic event.

歷史上動物受到蓄意傷害的奧運項目僅有一次，那就是1900年在巴黎奧運會上舉行的活鴿射擊比賽。這項比賽的目標是，運動員持槍站定，盡可能多地射殺活鴿。三百多只活鴿在該屆奧運會上被射死，來自比利時的萊昂·德倫登以射中21只活鴿的成績奪得金牌。動物在奧運會上被殺，這是歷史上的第一次，也是最后一次。

Swimming Obstacle Race

障礙泳

Now this sounds really cool ... and sounds like another thing little kids do in a pool. This is another 1900 Paris event， and took place in the Seine9).

First， competitors had to swim to a pole， then climb up it， then slide down it. Then they''''d swim toward some boats， which they had to climb over. After that， more swimming to more boats ... but this time， they had to go under. Overall， they''''d swim 200 meters with a lot of climbing in between.

Frederick Lane of Australia won the swimming obstacle race， doing it in 2:38.4. Turns out he also won the 200-meter freestyle， swimming that in 2:25. In other words， all the pole and boat climbing only slowed him down by 13 seconds.

現(xiàn)在提到的這項比賽真的很酷，聽起來像小孩們在游泳池里玩的又一個游戲。這也是1900年巴黎奧運會上的一項賽事，比賽地點是塞納河。

首先，選手們得游向一根標桿，爬至桿頂后再滑下去。接著，他們要向幾艘小船游去，并從船上一一爬過。此后，他們要向更多的小船游去……不過這次他們得從小船底下游過去。選手們總計需要游200米的距離，并在其間爬上爬下。

澳大利亞的弗雷德里克·萊恩以2分38秒4的成績獲得了此項比賽的冠軍。同時，他還以2分25秒的成績贏得了200米自由泳比賽。也就是說，水面中的標桿和小船只讓他耽擱了13秒。

1.roster [?r?st?(r)] n. 花名冊；項目單

2.color war: 顏色大戰(zhàn)，一種常在夏令營、學校和某些社會組織中進行的游戲。該游戲參加者被分成若干組，每組分別代表一種顏色，通過競技得分。常見游戲種類有拔河、躲球游戲、射箭、足球、籃球等。

3.Real World/Road Rules Challenge: 《真實世界/公路競技版》。它是美國一檔真人競技電視節(jié)目。

4.dude [du?d] n. <美> (男)人，家伙

5.squad [skw?d] n. 小隊

6.groom [ɡru?m] vt. 訓練

7.stationary [?ste???nri] adj. 靜止的；停滯的

8.glide [ɡla?d] vi. 滑行；游動

9.Seine: 塞納河。它是法國一條重要的大河，巴黎就是在該河的一些主要渡口上建立起來的。