Excerpt from the book Sports the Olympics Forgot This book describes 40 sports that ought to be played but aren’t, because I made them up.

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The distance races between 800 yards and 10,000 yards do cause problems as organizers have tried to run them as per the Olympic Games with everyone using the same inner lanes of the track. This has led to tripping, accusations of attempted strangulation, and occasional lassoing, so now each runner must stay in their individual lanes throughout the Race.

In the Skipping Marathon the contestants skip along the same course watched carefully by the Tripping Judges who will penalize skippers that are careless with their ropes.

In 1948 the skipping contests were split into men’s and women’s events. The person with the most victories was Pat Cribbens, who won 38 skipping races between 1950 and 1963 including five consecutive 200- and 400-yard race doubles in the mid 1950s. Pat attributed her success to her loping stride and slow skipping technique that meant almost all of her momentum was horizontal rather than vertical.