Category: Olympics

Another British Pathe video, this time about the Top 5 Olympic scandals. There have been so many scandals over the years, that I’m really not sure these are the top 5. More like the top 5 unknown scandals – as I hadn’t heard of most of them until watching the video. Once again the video is designed to promote their more extensive list of 17 Olympic scandals.

Some other scandals in include: secret professionals (in the days before they were allowed), boycotting (but doesn’t mention the 1980 or 1984 games), questions of gender, political statements, murder and massacres. Overall a decent overview but fails to mention some of the more famous doping scandals (such as Ben Johnson), probably because there are too many to choose from.

The video of the Top 5 Unaccepted Olympic Sports comes courtesy of British Pathe. It is part of wider series looking at some of the ridiculous Olympic sports that have been proposed or even tired over the years. My personal favourite is the Tug of War, which was a sport until the 1920 Olympics. Since Britain was the last to win the medal, they remain reigning Olympic tug of war champions.

You can see the complete list of unaccepted Olympic sports here. Some other gems include Ballooning, Pigeon Racing, Gliding, Water Skiing, Boules, Angling and American Football.