Tug of war was contested as a team event in the Summer Olympics at every Olympiad from 1900 to 1920. Originally the competition was entered by clubs, which meant that one country could win several medals. This happened in 1904, when the United States won all three medals, and in 1908 when the podium was occupied by three British teams. Sweden was also among the top countries with two medals, one as a member of the mixed team.
During its time as an Olympic sport, it was considered to be part of the Olympic athletics programme, although the sports of tug of war and athletics are now considered distinct. – Wikipedia
Tug of war was also a part of the ancient Olympic games…
Just how serious do people take Tug of War? Here are a few things we learned from checking out the website for the Tug Of War International Federation:
• There’s a manual to build your own tug of war boots.
• The rule book for the 2009-2010 seasonis 84 pages long.
• They follow WADA’s drug guidelines, making this sport far stricter than any of the major sports played in the United States.
• Finally, you can get caught up on all of this by watching a nice video:
Source: ESPN – Bring back the tug of war
