Crazy Sports Once In the Winter Olympics

The Olympics are known for their ever-changing program. Every four years, some sports are added, some sports are removed and until 1992, some sports were contested at the demonstration level, meaning that athletes who place in these sports do not receive medals. Here’s a look at some of the sports that were once demonstration sports in the Olympic Winter Games, but never made the full program.

1. Ski ballet

Contested between 1960 and 2000, and an Olympic demonstration sport in 1988 and 1992, ski ballet features a series of choreographed spins, flips and jumps similar to figure skating… performed entirely on skis. Just watch the video below and wish it came back tomorrow.

Bandy is similar to hockey, only played on an ice rink the size of a soccer field, and with an orange ball the size of a tennis ball instead of a puck. Originally an Olympic demonstration sport in 1952, Bandy is perhaps the most likely to be adopted as a new Winter Olympics sport because it is an IOC-recognized sport. Largely popular in Sweden and Russia, the sport’s world championships were held last week in Russia.

Considered a precursor to the biathlon, military patrol was contested in the Winter Olympics between 1928-1948. Rather than independent athletes, military patrol teams was exclusive to military teams. The sport derives from the Norwegian military, who used to perform drills patrolling snowy terrains and shooting.

4. Skijöring

Literally translating to “ski driving” in Norwegian, skijöring is a sport where a person on skis is pulled by a dog or sometimes a horse (when it was a demonstration sport in the 1928 Olympics, skijöring was was contested with horses). In equestrian skijöring, one skier is pulled by one horse, holding on with a tug rope in manner similar to water skiing.

Most popular in Germany, where it is known as Eisstocksport, ice stock sport is similar to curling in that a disc called an ice stock is slid over ice with one of two goals, depending on the discipline: aiming for a target or for the furthest distance. Ice stock sport was contested as a demonstration sport in two Olympics, 1936 and 1964.