I know I’m not alone in my excitement for the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic Games tomorrow.
Whenever the Olympics are on and we’re at home, the television is almost always tuned into the latest event.
I love the energy of the Olympics and watching the world’s best athletes is inspiring, gripping and just plain exciting. Ryan and I have been talking about the Olympics for a few weeks now and this morning as we were eating breakfast he started telling me about an article he read that mentioned previous unusual Olympic events.
According to CNN, the 10 strangest Olympic events from the past and present include:
- Solo Synchronized Swimming: Discontinued in 1992
- Club Swinging: Discontinued in 1932
- Tug-of-War: Discontinued in 1920
- Live Pigeon Shooting: Only present in the 1900 Olympics Games
- Swimming Obstacle Course: Discontinued in 1900
- Roller Hockey: Only present in the 1992 Olympic Games
- La Canne (Like fencing but with a cane): Debuted at the 1924 Olympics
- Rope Climbing: Discontinued in 1932
- Trampoline: Current Olympic event
- Race Walking: Current Olympic event
Trampoline!? Sign me up!
Lunch
Today’s lunch was so fresh and fantastic that I “mmm-ed” my way through the entire thing.
I topped a base of arugula and spinach with watermelon, feta cheese, salt and pomegranate salad dressing. (The contrast of the salt with the watermelon is so good!)
Watermelon + Feta + Arugula = One of my all-time favorite salad combinations
On the side I ate a whole wheat English muffin topped with honey and shredded coconut.
This combination has quickly become my favorite post-dinner snack the past three nights in a row. It’s sweet but satisfying at the same time. Highly recommended!
Question of the Afternoon
- If you could compete in one of the above unusual Olympic events, which event would you choose?
I’d be all over the swimming obstacle course or trampoline event. Both sound like a blast, though I’m sure they’d totally kick my butt.
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unch looks great! you are making me hungry! Check your email, I just sent you a link to an ADORABLE vizsla pillow I just ordered!
errr… Lunch, not unch 🙂
Question: Solo Synchronized Swimming…how can it be synchronized when youre the only one doing it? If you mess up…who would know? So many questions! Haha LOVE the Olympics!!
oh i know! total oxymoron!
I know it sounds totally strange to have solo synchronized swimming but I did synchronized swimming for a while as a kid and solo events were basically doing all the same synchronized swimming moves like kicks/ arm work etc but just not having a whole team do it with you.
La Canne sounds hilarious to me and I can’t help bit picture old ppl with canes jabbing at each other! I would be all about that swimming obstacle course
That’s exactly the image that came to my mind!
Hahaha I would love to watch olympic cane fighting. And your lunch looks delish. If only I wasn’t allergic to watermelon :/ I wonder how regular melon would be in a salad…
i’ve made the salad with strawberries and loved it as well!
Hehe that is quite the list! I love the Olympics, especially the swimming and running events. But if I had to pick one of the sports in your list, I’d go for trampoline. It’d be pretty much impossible not to have hot legs if you trained for that one!
hahaha race walking sound so funny. maybe I should go out for the team since I have a mean speed walk.
Seriously??? haha #1 cracks me up, and #9 sounds fun!
Cane fighting??? Seriously would love to watch that! Is it for the 65+ only? 🙂
And I am totally bummed that I have not known that race walking was an Olympic Sport! I would own that sh*t. I shall commence training for the 2016 games today!
good luck in your endeavors! 🙂
haha solo synchronized swimming! I totally did that all the time when I was a kid!
Oh my gosh, I did too!! My family still makes fun of me for it 😛
Trampoline is no joke. It’s one of my favorites to watch. They go 30-40 feet in the air and do somersaults; I don’t know how someone doesn’t break a neck.
Sign me up for tug of war.
girl i LOVE this english muffin idea for an after dinner ‘dessert’ when i am craving carbs. pinned ya!
I just read about trampolining (or however you spell it)the other day! It looks like its basically gymnastics on a trampoline, just like you did in gymnastics class before you could do things on the floor. I’m sure it’s a lot more technical than it seems 🙂 Sign me up too!
I dunno, race walking might just be my thing! 😉
For La Canne, I had this vision of old people with canes fencing a la Errol Flynn. LOL
I think I’d want to do the trampoline jump. Sounds dangerous, but trampolines are just so fun!
la canne, but a lot of them sound hilarious to watch. Foreign Policy has a link to some fun international ideas like pumpkin paddling, elephant polo, cheese rolling… all sorts of good ideas to add! http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/07/23/weird_world_of_sports
every time I see you make that watermelon feta salad my mouth waters, need to make it!!
your lunch looks so good.. I am kind of obsessed with arugula..and by kind of, I mean a lot 😉 English muffin idea is a great one, too 🙂
I want to see Tug-of-War! I think they should bring that back.
Also, trampoline is awesome to watch!
Race walking?! Interesting! I think the swimming obstacle course would be a blast too! The trampoline one sounds like it could be fun, but for whatever reason trampolines scare me. I think it’d be more fun for me to just watch it. 😉
Salad looks great! I’m not really a cheese person, but this I might have to try! 🙂
Your lunch looks so good; I for see that in my lunch future…I LOVE watermelon and Feta together!
I would be all over the trampoline also, I used to be a gymnast so I think that would be super fun. I loved using the trampoline to learn new moves. Let’s start training now…2016 here we come!
I would be all over the trampoline! When i was a kid, we would pretend we were olympic gymnast on my trampoline… so I am ready clearly! lol
I’m a little confused by what solo synchronized swimming is? Doesn’t “solo” mean there would be no one to be synchornized with?
The trampoline sounds awesome but holy cow, I’ve watched it before and they seriously fly. I’d be way too afraid to try all the moves they complete so I think I’d have to stick to the swimming obstacle course. I imagine it would be a little like Wipeout but with real competitors, not total goobers. 🙂
I have never thought to put coconut on an English Muffin! That sounds amazing!
Roller Hockey sounds amazing, but I’m sure I would get my butt kicked!
Also, OMGZ! that watermelon feta salad.
Ha I would be all over the trampoline! I played on the trampoline all the time as a kid so I’ve basically been training for it my whole life!! HA!
Oh and that watermelon salad looks DELISH! I will definitely have to try that!
I used to be a runner, and my best friend actually racewalked in the junior olympics when we were in high school! I will never forget the trial where she was the ONLY one competing in our area, but she still had to run (walk?) it to get a time. It was the LONGEST, most BORING 10 minutes of my life watching her mosey along the track all by herself haha.
One of my fave restaurants here makes that salad but also adds stouts and balsamic- SO delish!
Put all those in a decathlon and I’m totally game!
I would have to pick solo synchronized swimming. I am so in-sync with myself it’s not even funny! Really, I think you all would be very impressed….=)
swimming obstacle course!!! We need to bring that back! That sounds awesome!
~Cat
This made me laugh. I am a former gymnast so def would be all over the trampoline. It looks like so much fun.
Race walking may sound like a joke but those people are intense! They hold the US 10km Race Walking Championships in my hometown of Albany, NY every summer and the top athletes finish in like 43:00! They can “walk” faster than I can run!
no way! that crushes my 10k PR, too!
I have to say, that sounds like my dream lunch. Amazing!
Trampoline definitely!!!
Haha those would be awesome things to watch. I like the race walking, how do you decipher fast walking between a light jog, that’s tricky.
I’d totally choose trampoline, it would be so fun! But also a little freaky. I actually have a trampoline at home and love it haha.
i had the same thought! i’d love to see an official yell, “c’mon now. i said NO spring in your step!”
I wish they till had tug of war – there’s a tournament near me that I try to go see every year and it’s a lot of fun to watch! I’d probably do that one…or trampoline. 🙂
Race walking all the way!!!! I’m a New Yorker, baby.
ha!! you’re practically a pro.
I would love to compete in La Canne, it sounds so fun! Wouldn’t it be funny to stop fighting and cane dance like they did in Alliyah’s music video? haha
Oh my gosh I want to do the trampoline!!!! haha
Oh my god – speed walking is INSANE! I learned about it in my Exercise Physiology class, and their pace times for WALKING is around 4minute kilometers for FIFTY KM! Mind blowing! The rules are also that one foot must be touching the ground at all times, it’s quite a spectacle to watch, the walkers are very “hippy”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbB9v8ooQno Here’s a video showing the event!
Um, am I living under a rock – I didn’t realize the Opening Ceremonies were TOMORROW! So exciting.. i love the summer Olympics. 🙂
Love the English muffin idea! My favorite is with peanut butter and a few dark chocolate chips. 🙂
I love coconut. It reminds me of my childhood. When I was a kid my mom used to buy coconuts and cut them up into chunks and my brother and I would go crazy over them. We couldn’t keep our hand off!!
whoa, whoa, whoa. fresh coconut!? if your mom ever travels to florida, please alert me immediately.
I would totally go for trampoline, but speed walking intrigues me… I wonder what rules there are that differentiate walking from running/jogging!
Ooo, club swinging–sounds like that could be found in a CrossFit Games event! ha ha!
I’ve heard race walking is really really tough, but that’d probably be the way I’d go. I love walking!
I’ll have to keep my eye out for race walking!
I hysterically laugh at “race walking” every single time. Never fails. Same with “curling.” <<you HAVE to YouTube this if you have never watched it.
Anyway, I would participate in trampoline. Not sure what they do during this event, but I'm game! 🙂