We are almost at the starting line now Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. The event, recognized as one of the most important sporting events ever, will see athletes from all over the world compete in 16 various winter sports.
In the history of Olympic GamesHowever, the disciplines that have taken turns are much more numerous: some have still remained in the games schedule, others have only had an appearance role. Among the latter we find some which are certainly worth dwelling on, because more than others they have been able to arouse the curiosity of fans and spectators from all over the world: the military patrolThe bandyit ski ballet, the sports stocks, there sled dog racing and it equestrian skijoring.
The most curious disciplines
Let’s start with what can be considered in all respects the ancestor of biathlon modern, that is military patrol. It was part of the first ever edition of the Winter Olympics, the one held in Chamonix In the 1924but already at the demonstrations of St. Moritz 1928 And 1948 And Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 appeared only in demonstrative capacity. The competition took place between teams made up of four men belonging to the police forces of the same country: an officer, a non-commissioned officer and two soldiers. Through a combined cross-country skiing and ski mountaineering challenge, the athletes had to face a difference in altitude ranging from 500 hey 1200 meters and then shoot (all except the officer) at a distant target 50 meters.
The Bandyhowever, was presented, again in a demonstrative capacity, to Oslo 1952 and can be described as a sort of fusion between football andice hockey. Two teams from 11 men and women competed in a match divided into two halves 45 minutes each, with the aim of scoring a goal in the opponent’s goal. The peculiarity, in addition to the fact of being played on ice, concerned the use of a curved stick and one ball instead of the disk.
Now let’s imagine figure skating with skis on and practiced on the snow: here we get it ski ballet. Among the most acrobatic that has ever existed, this discipline has participated in two editions of the Games: Calgary 1988 And Albertville 1992. In the 90 seconds available, the athletes had the aim of impressing the judges through choreography and acrobatics on the snow, to the rhythm of music. Despite its short Olympic life, ski ballet o acroskiis still counted among the most difficult and fascinating disciplines today.
The next sport has its roots in the Alpine regions and is still practiced today among GermanytheAustria and the Trentino-Alto Adige. Let’s talk about sports stocks: very similar to curling, it is played on ice and the aim is to throw pins trying to get them as close as possible to some sort of target. His Olympic parenthesis is limited to the editions of 1936 and to that of 1964respectively a Garmisch-Partenkirchen And Innsbruck.
In the past, two activities which involved the direct involvement of animals in competition also appeared on the Olympic scene.
The first was there sled dog racing, demonstration sport a Lake Placid In the 1932. For the occasion, a route was built 40km which each athlete had to complete on a sled pulled by six dogs. The competition saw only Canadians and Americans participate.
The other was, however, the protagonist of the Games St. Moritz of 1928 and in this case the animals involved were i horses. The sport in question is lo equestrian skijoringstill practiced today Scandinaviain USA and in Swiss (protagonist in St. Moritz with the entire podium). It consists of a speed race in which the athletes are pulled by horses across a frozen lake.
Why are there demonstration sports at the Winter Olympics?
The question that arises spontaneously, reading about these curious disciplines, is: why is space also given to occasional sporting demonstrations during the Olympic Games? The reason lies in the fact that the Olympics have always represented an excellent stage world championship, in terms of sport but not only. Very often this aspect is exploited by Olympic Committees both to give visibility to one or more disciplines less known to the general public, and to test the performance and satisfaction of new sports (from different points of view) in light of their possible admission to the next edition.
