link to original reddit post by /u/Anen-o-me
I hate war. Let's start there. But the Olympics in many categories is just an ancient war game.
It's why we have cross country skiing and shooting, that was how Finland held off the Soviets in WWII.
I know many Olympic categories have modern fans divorced from war origins, but spear throwing (javelin), discus, shotput? No one does those anymore outside trying to compete with them.
I was just watching a relay race and was thinking how this category is about how they used to pass messages between leadership during wars.
https://reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/ov8zdv/the_speed_of_the_usa_relay_team/
It's great that the Olympics has added many categories that are purely about fun things modern people do just to have a good time, skateboarding, snowboarding, online gaming.
I hope they will also begin retiring these anachronistic military-inspired sports that have no relevance to the modern era. Do we really need to keep practicing relay races in a world with lightspeed radio communication.
Perhaps there's something to be said for maintaining the original sports from antiquity, and people seem to enjoy them still.
I do question why curling is an Olympic sport...
Also pretty funny that the original Olympics was a one day event, and has expanded now into practically a year long thing.
The ancient Olympic Games were initially a one-day event until 684 BC, when they were extended to three days. In the 5th century B.C., the Games were extended again to cover five days. The ancient Games included running, long jump, shot put, javelin, boxing, pankration (wrestling) and equestrian events.
https://olympics.com/ioc/ancient-olympic-games/the-sports-events