30 greatest one-time sports in Summer Olympics history

6. Kite Flying
1900 Paris Olympics

We couldn’t finish this list without the wild and crazy 1900 Olympics in the top 10. This might be the event that draws the most ire when looking at that version of the game, but our research finds this one might be as legit as any. Kite flying was considered part of the ballooning portion of the Games. Kite flying was listed in the official Olympic Report detailed from 1900.

There were two main competitions for kite flying. One focused on the altitude of a kite, while the other was more of an “all-around” competition. In the former, kites had to remain as high as one could keep it for one hour. The other competition took into account height, angle, and other factors, and the kite had to be in the air for two hours.

It was originally just going to be the two events, but so many people came to Paris to join the competition, they had to segment it further. They still had the two sets of rules, but they broke it into six competitions total, with two each for small, medium, and large kites.

The winners of the event were given medals, and some even won cash prizes. We cannot overstate how wild things were in 1900.