The 1900 Paris Olympics

Sports Bizarre

The 1900 Paris Olympics were a disaster of planning and execution, to the point many athletes never even knew they’d participated in an Olympics.

So poorly organised were the games that the discus field was too narrow and throws went into the crowd, while the long jumpers turned up to discover they had to dig their own pit.

As well as standard Olympic fare, there was cannon shooting, hot air ballooning, pigeon shooting, kite flying, driving a mail carriage and fishing.

Titus O’Reily and Mick Molloy look at the most shambolic Olympics ever, an event that saw kids press-ganged into competing and the marathon ended in a twelve-year legal battle.

This episode refers to another episode, The Worst Event in Olympic History, which is another bonkers story.

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