30 greatest one-time sports in Summer Olympics history

18. Angling
1900 Paris Olympics

Angling is another sport from the 1900 Olympics, but this one had a huge turnout. A reported 600 fishermen competed in the event. The competition was simple. Whoever caught the most fish would move on to the next heat. There were six preliminary heats, with 10 fishermen from each heat advancing to the next round. Truthfully, this sounds thrilling. Watching as each angler was pushing to catch more and more fish? It also sounds like an effective way to feed the athletes from the other sports.

Angling was actually one of the first controversies at the Olympics. It was highly contested whether this should even be considered at the events (which is insane when we consider some of the other events held at the 1900 Olympics). The Exposition Universelle (the larger event in which the Olympics took place) flatly refused to add angling to the docket. Organizers argued that angling was not a proper sport.

Other issues surrounding this event include a massive pollution spill that killed 30 tons of fish right before the competition, setting up shop near a lowly oxygenated section of the Seine, and they had trouble generating revenue as people found ways to avoid the entrance fee for both the competition and as a spectator.

The competition lost a ton of money because of the issues with collection entrance fees and spectator fees. That and the headache the organizers put the competition through likely made it more trouble than it was worth. This was one of the more popular sports at that Olympics, drawing up to 30,000 fans to watch the competition.