Although all the classic sports are very important in our day-to-day life, I think it is more interesting to find out something about those sports that never will be played in the modern Olympic Games: the strangest sports in the world, those sports that are unknown, unusual and weird but are played in several parts of the world. We might think that people who play these sports are freaky and bizarre, but there are lots of people that play them. So, some of the strangest sports that we can play around the world are:
- Arm wrestling: a biceps competition between two people; each participant places one arm with the elbow touching a surface and they grip each other´s hands. The winner is the one who is able to force his opponent´s arm onto the surface. There is a World Armwrestling Federation constituted by 85 member countries.
- Bed Racing: a 3-km bed race invented in the North Yorkshire Town of Knaresborough (United Kingdom). Each team is comprised of seven members with one of them lying on the bed. All the beds have to run on four wheels and they also have to be able to float because in one part of the race competitors have to cross a river.
- Beer Can Regatta: all the participants create their boats using empty beer and soft drink cans and empty milk cartons. The funniest moment is when the boats sink into the water. This regatta is held in Mindil Beach (Darwin) in Australia.
- Beer Pong (also known as Beirut): this game combines beer cups and ping-pong. Players throw a ping-pong ball across the table and try to land the ball in a cup of beer (these cups are arranged in triangle formation) on the other side of the table. The World Series of Beer Pong is the largest championship in the world of this discipline and players from United States, Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Japan participate.
- Bicycle Polo: a similar sport to traditional polo but players use bicycles instead of horses.
- Bog Snorkelling: similar to classic snorkeling, but in this variety competitors have to complete two consecutive lengths in a trench filled with muddy water in the shortest time possible. There is a World Bog Snorkelling Championship that has been held since 1985 and takes place every summer in Llanwrtyd Wells (United Kingdom).
- Bossaball: a spectacular new and unusual beach sport introduced in Spain in 2005. It is a hybrid of volleyball, football, gymnastics and capoeira and is played on air mattresses and trampolines.
- Camel Racing: like horse racing but camels are ridden without riders. This is a very popular sport in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Australia and Mongolia.
- Cheese-Rolling: a sport in which all competitors have to roll their Double Gloucester Cheese downhill from the top to the bottom of Cooper’s Hill (England).
- Chess Boxing: a hybrid sport that combines chess and boxing in eleven alternate rounds: six rounds of chess and five of boxing. It has been held since 2003 and has followers in Los Angeles, Tokyo, Nantes, Reykjavik, Amsterdam, Calcutta and, especially, in Berlin and London.
- Cup Stacking (also known as sport stacking): an individual sport that involves stacking plastic cups in different sequences (pyramids of three, six or ten cups) in the shortest time possible. The first competitions were held in 1998 and there is a World Sport Stacking Association.
- Dodgeball: a game usually played on a basketball court in which players on two teams try to hit the opponents with balls while they try to avoid being hit.
- Extreme Ironing: a hybrid between an extreme outdoor sport and a performance. This activity started in June 1997 in Leicester (England) and consists of people doing their ironing in remote and dangerous places. Locations where this sport takes place include sheer mountainsides, in forests, at the top of large statues, while skiing, snowboarding or practicing parachuting, underwater, in the middle of the street, riding a bicycle and sailing.
- Joggling: this sport combines juggling and jogging. There is an International Jogglers’ Association and the first championship was held in 1980 in North Dakota (USA).
- Land Diving: this is a hybrid between a sport and a traditional religious ritual that is practiced only by men on Pentecost Island (Vanuatu): while women are dancing and singing chants, men jump from high wooden towers with their ankles tied with supple liana vines. It’s the precursor of bungee jumping.
- Parkour: a discipline of French origin which involves skillful gymnastic movements over, under and through city buildings and street furniture.
- Rope climbing: an escape sport whose aim is to climb a suspended vertical rope using only the hands and arms in the shortest time possible. It is usually played at the World Police and Fire Games.
- Royal Shrovetide Football: a local derby that has been played every year since 1667 in the streets of Ashbourne in Derbyshire (England). There are two teams and the game begins when a ball is thrown into the centre of the town. Players then have to get the ball to the goals, which are positioned three miles away.
- Shin Kicking: a battle in which two competitors have to kick each other as hard as they can in the shins and force one’s opponent to the ground. It has been played in England since 17th century.
- Stair Climbing: a grueling sport in which competitors have to run up the stairs to the top of the highest buildings and towers of the world.
- Straw race: a charity race between teams of two persons carrying bales of straw. Competitors drink a pint of beer at each pub they stop at on the route. This race is held in Oxenhope, New Yorkshire (England).
- Street Luge: a very high-speed downhill race in which competitors ride a streetluge board (a modified skateboard) with their feet in front and with only gravity to power them. This sport was created in Southern California in the seventies.
- Toe Wrestling: similar to arm wrestling. This is a sport played since the seventies, mainly in United Kingdom. Competitors, with their shoes off, have to pin and interlock the big toe of their opponents and try to force it off the “toedium” (the place where this game is played, resembling a little boxing ring).
- Tough Mudder: the latest trend in extreme sports, where participants race up to 20 km over military-style obstacles involving mud, heights, fire, icy water and high voltage electricity. This sport was created in 2010 in New York and is currently played all over United States and in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Germany.
- Underwater Hockey: players with two teams of six players each. One has to push a puck (heavier than usual) along the bottom of a swimming pool and try scoring it into the opponent goal. Players wear snorkels and have to come up to breathe. This sport began in 1954 in the United Kingdom.
However, we can argue whether these activities can be considered sports because most of them don’t need any training to play. So, are they really sports or only amusements played for enjoying our spare time? I think that sport is really any physical action that makes us feel better. So in my opinion these games can be classified as strange, eccentric even dangerous activities, but still sports. What do you think?
Uinen
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