Top 10: Ridiculous Olympic sports

The Summer Olympic Games has once again come to an end, and we are all without a doubt impressed by some of the truly amazing athletic achievements we have witnessed from Rio. However, the Olympic Games does not only include common sports such as basketball and 100 meter running but also some obscure and silly ones. Here is a list of the most absurd Olympic sports.

10. Table tennis
Despite looking like an actual sport, table tennis is the most popular racket sport in the world and has been a part of the Olympic Games since Seoul 1988. Table tennis is played with one or two players on each side of a table, trying to hit a small plastic ball over on the contestants side using small rackets. However, I associate it more with a hobby or a drinking game than an actual sport.

9. Trampoline gymnastics
A fairly new sport, trampoline gymnastics was added to the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000. Reminding me of my childhood days bouncing on our trampoline in our backyard, athletes perform acrobatic moves at impressing heights. As much hard work as the athletes probably have gone through to be where they are today, I still get the feeling that every kid with a quality trampoline and some guts could do the same.

8. Water polo
As the first Olympic team sport, water polo was added to the games in Paris 1900. The sport is played with two teams of seven, trying to throw a ball into the opponent’s goal. It is fairly entertaining as the players look like a bunch of drowning cats with stupid looking hats.

7. Fencing
Fencing has been a part of the Olympic program since Athens 1896. It is a combat sport in which two fencers try to land as many blows as possible in the opponent’s target area with a blunt-ended blade. The sport is as ancient as it looks and it is kind of weird that it is still a part of the games.

6. Modern pentathlon
Modern pentathlon is a weird mix of fencing, swimming, horse riding, shooting, and running, in which all exercises takes place on the same day. The sport became a part of the Games in Stockholm 1912, and has both female and male teams competing. This must be the most ridiculous mix of sports ever, and there are no purpose of anyone being good at all of these exercises. How did this become a mix in the first place?

5. Dressage
As a part of the equestrian sport, dressage is basically horse dancing. Dressage is said to be “the highest expression of horse training,” and the aim of the riders is to make the horse perform a series of memorized movements. As hard as it probably is to make the horse do such moves, it is ridiculously funny to watch the horses perform. It is almost too silly to be an Olympic sport.

4. Rhythmic gymnastics
This graceful but silly-looking sport made its Olympic debut at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. The competitors aim at performing choreographed routines where they use hand-held apparati such as ribbons, hoops, and clubs, while performing impressive maneuvers. Obtaining those skills probably requires a heavy amount of training, but watching the sport the athletes look like a bunch of 5-year-old princesses gone wild.

3. Racewalking
As a part of athletics, racewalking is a long-distance race in which the athletes walk fast for 20 kilometers. It is different from running as one foot has to be grounded at every time. It is hilarious to watch as it looks like the athletes are in bad need of a trip to the restroom. Unfortunately some of them are, as we witnessed in Rio when French race walker Yohann Diniz pooped his pants.

2. Badminton
Badminton, which reminds me more of a Sunday garden game than an actual sport made its official debut at the 1992 Barcelona Games. The sport which is quite popular in Asia consists of either singles or teams of doubles competing against each other. The competing athletes aim at hitting a shuttlecock (this name is yet another example of the silliness of the sport) across a net with racquets, and the athlete/team with the most point wins.

1. Synchronized swimming
As the most entertaining and hilarious Olympic sport, synchronized swimming tops the list. As a women-only discipline, synchronized swimming had its debut in the Los Angeles 1984 games. It is a pool-based form of gymnastics, where several teams aim at performing a synchronized choreography on, and under, water. However, as impressive as it is holding their breath for as long as they do and being able to dance upside down in a swimming pool, all their odd facial expressions and eccentric dance moves makes the whole thing look foolish, to say the least.