From pigeon racing korfball to the foreboding overtones of gliding, half a dozen sports that enjoyed brief exposure on the Games’ global stage The success of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 had many believing that the Greek capital should be the nascent movement’s permanent host. No doubt, many citizens whose cities have been left with a hefty deficit and an expensive white elephant or two wish it had been. But somehow failing to foresee things like terrorism in Munich, smog in Beijing, and menacing mosquitos in Rio, International Olympic Committee founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin argued that the Games were a gift worth sharing. He must have been envisaging the kind of goodwill evident in Tokyo (1964), Barcelona (1992) and Sydney (2000). Continue reading...
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