Let's get weird!
The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics officially kicked off with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, Feb. 4, a.k.a. the start of your quadrennial two-week obsession with figure skating, skiing and snowboarding. Ah, don't you just love the smell of fresh snow from the comfort of your couch?
Of course, those are three of the more popular sports that will be hitting the ice and slopes at the Beijing Games, but they are far from the only activities you can watch Team USA compete in. And some of the other offerings sound so random that you might just want to tune in to see what exactly they are like the biathlon, which requires an athlete to shoot a rifle—on skis. We can't even make it down a bunny hill.
Plus, did you know in past Games athletes competed in ballooning and tug of war? Yes, really.
Check out some of the unusual sports that were once featured at the Olympics and a few that are currently on the schedule in Beijing that you've never heard of but might want to check out...
Clean! The most mainstream of the more unusual Winter Olympics sports, curling involves players sliding stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. 2022 marks the eighth Olympic appearance for curling, which has largely been dominated by Canada since its debut.
Likely one of your favorite activities to do at your rich friend's house when you were younger has actually been a sport during the summer games since 2000.
Making its debut at the 1900 Summer Olympics, the sport originates from an equine event in 18th-century Ireland, during which riders would race from town to town using church steeples. Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco and Peruth Chemutai of Uganda took home the gold medals in Tokyo last year.
This winter sport combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting and we do not think enough attention is paid to this race, which first made its debut in 1960.
How very...unfortunate for the Heathers that their leisure activity of choice hasn't been played at the Olympics in over 100 years.
Similar to basketball, korfball was only played at the 1920 and 1928 games.
Though it appeared just once as a demonstration sport at the 1992 Olympics, there are online petitions for inline hockey to be considered for inclusion by the IOC in future games.
This summer activity has only appeared once as a demonstration sport at the 1972 Games in Munich.
The United States took home the gold the only time this sport, an Irish stick game similar to lacrosse, was played in 1904.
The Scandinavian sport involves athletes wearing skis and clutching reins attached to a wooden harness fitted onto one or more horses. Sadly, it only made one Olympic appearance at the 1928 Games in Switzerland.
Yes, Tom Brady could have been an Olympian.
Unfortunately, American football just didn't catch on at the global level when it was featured as a demonstration sport in 1904 and 1932. Talk about a fourth and downer.
Only a demonstration sport at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, the Frisian handball game was never recognized officially by the IOC.
While surfing didn't make its debut as an Olympic sport until last year in Tokyo, lifesaving was an unofficial sport at on the Summer Olympic Games program in 1900. It has never returned, though it is an official discipline at the World Games.
In partnership with the World's Fair, ballooning appeared just one time as an Olympic sport in Paris in 1900.
The iconic backyard and summer camp game was actually a team sport that appeared from 1900-20. Gone too soon if you ask us!
The Icelandic national style of folk wrestling only made one appearance as a demonstration sport at the 1912 games in Stockholm.
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