As the Paris 2024 Olympic event is underway, you can watch athletes participate in various types of games. Throughout the history of the Olympics, many games have been played. While some games have been excluded, the Olympic administration continues to include a few new games. People across the world watch the Olympic events with much enthusiasm since multiple countries participate in this sporting event.

While people cheer for their favorite athletes and watch the games, Olympic events have also indulged in various controversies. Besides the games that are commonly known, the event has featured some weird games. Here, in the following section, find the top five weirdest games in the history of Olympic events.

1. Plunging for the Distance

In the 1904 Olympics, hosted in St. Louis, the divers were judged by far they floated without moving for 60 seconds. The winner of this event was an American athlete, Paul Dickey. He plunged around 62 feet and floated ahead of other participants. However, this sporting event received criticism from many athletes. Leading news agencies like the New York Times had criticized the event. Eventually, the event was dropped from the next Olympics.

2. Skijoring

This is a popular and traditional sport in Norway. The event includes horses and dogs, which will drag a skier on a snowy oval track. Skijoring was introduced in the 1928 Olympics' main event. The Swiss contestant dominated this event and won the gold medal. Since the event requires minimal human skills, it has been omitted from the Olympics in the following years. Sources say that Pierre de Coubertin, the founding father of the Olympics, personally wanted to withdraw this sport from the event.

3. Firefighting

Do you know that firefighting was included as an Olympic sport in 1990? Firefighting as a sport sounds weird itself. Isn't it? A fire was staged for this event, and competitors had to control the fire. A Portuguese firefighting volunteer stood first in this event. Sighting the potential life threat to the contestants, this event was dropped from the Olympics in the subsequent years.

4. Live Pigeon Shooting

A blood-boiling event featuring live pigeon shooting made an appearance in the 1990 Olympic Games. The contestant who killed the highest number of pigeons was declared the first-place holder. More than 300 pigeons were killed on that day. Following mass criticism from many sections of society, the live pigeon shooting event was dropped from the following Olympic events.

5. Running Deer

This is another shooting game, though people thankfully did not have to shoot the real deer. Instead of real deer, cardboard cutouts were used to move from one place to another. The participants had to shoot the cutout to score points. Introduced in the 1908 London Olympics, the event became popular. However, this event did not last for long since other shooting events took over. The last appearance made by this event was in the 1952 Summer Olympics.