The Olympics have begun!  Most people join me in admiring the figure skaters, relay racers, gymnasts and other athletes who jump, throw the shot put, discuss or javelin, jump hurdles and pole vault.  I was, however, unaware that there is also a hammer throw, which has been included in the Olympic Games since 1900 for men, and since 2000 for women. This sport is in the athletics (track and field) category, in which a hammer is hurled for distance, using two hands within a throwing circle. In the modern hammer throw technique, a thrower makes three full, quick turns of the body before flinging the wire handled spherical weight. The ball is of solid iron or other metal not softer than brass, and the handle is spring steel wire, with one end attached to the ball by a plain or ball-bearing swivel and the other to a rigid two-hand grip by a loop. The throwing circle is protected by a C-shaped cage for the safety of officials and onlookers, lest the hammer thrower lose grip and accidently flings the hammer off into the crowd.

 I was unaware that badminton was an Olympic sport. It was my favorite game when I was a child. We would set up a net in the backyard and hit the shuttlecock back and forth. Little did I know that I could have developed my badminton skills to qualify for the Olympics.    

This year, breakdancing will officially make its debut as an Olympic Sport.  The city of Paris lobbied to get this sport at their venue in an effort to attract the younger generation.  I also noticed that surfing is included and will be held in the French Polynesia Island of Tahiti. This surfing venue will break the record for the furthest medal competition staged outside the host Olympic city of Paris.

One of my favorite Olympic sports is curling (I am being facetious). This is a team sport played by two teams of either two or four players on a rectangular sheet of ice. In curling, a brush is used to sweep the ice surface in the path of the stone as it travels down the ice. Sweeping reduces the friction between the stone and the ice, helping it to travel farther and straighter. Watching this is as exciting as watching ice melt.    

Bobsledding has always interested me, especially because there are bobsled teams from warm countries where there is no snow and ice. Bobsleigh is a winter sport invented by the Swiss in the late 1860s, in which teams make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sled. The 1993 film “Cool Runnings” is a comedy based on the true story of Jamaica’s first bobsled team that competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. They did not win, nor did they ever win, a medal for bobsledding. (They did, however, earn a considerable amount of money from the movie, which is still paying royalties.)

Other sports which have been featured at the Olympics include tug of war, rope climbing, pigeon shooting (LIVE pigeons,) pistol dueling, (only one winner there…) chorus singing, croquet, air pistol, table tennis, BMX biking and ballooning.

 Los Angeles, the host city for the 2028 Olympics, has already added softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse, and squash. There are also movements underway to include cornhole and pickleball as Olympic sports. According to the Bleacher Report, other sports that should be considered include foosball, duckpin bowling, UFC fighting, waterskiing, dodgeball, golf, paintball, and football.  Other possible ideas, according to Fox Sports, include beer pong, dodgeball, kick the can, and rock paper scissors. The possibilities are endless.