Among the demonstration sports in the Paris Olympic Games of 1900 were kite flying, ballooning, fire fighting, cannon shooting and pigeon racing. Live pigeon shooting was also an event, with a prize of 20,000 francs.
How can rubbish like synchronized swimming be allowed in the Olympic Games, but fire fighting and cannon shooting are no longer?
Imagine tuning in to watch teams from some of the traditionally less well organized societies, such as Italy vs Nigeria in the repechage of the fire fighting.
Don’t tell me a large audience would not tune in to watch the cannon shooting, particularly if it were held at the same time as the ballooning.
I wonder what the rules were. There could be a large number of wooden figures, dressed as foreigners and placed at various distances in a field. The object is simply to blow up as many as possible with an allotted number of cannonballs. Perhaps different points could be awarded for different types of foreigners, with natives in laplaps being worth one point and traditional enemies scoring the highest.
Live animal shooting need not be limited to pigeons. Employing modern technology, all manner of fauna could be flung into the sky and shot down by eager competitors: chickens, toads, sheep, goats, badgers, otters, ocelots … the mind boggles at the possibilities. Larger animals such as cows and pigs could be launched and shot out of the sky with cannon in the bonus round.
Let’s get some proper sports back into the Olympics in time for Rio.
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