30 greatest one-time sports in Summer Olympics history

27. Roque
1904 St. Louis Olympics

Imagine what an “American version of croquet” looks like, because that is Roque. It’s played on a hard, smooth surface, and it was an official sport at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri. It actually replaced croquet, which was played at the previous iteration of the Olympics. 

Roque is played on a 30x60-foot court with a barrier around the court. The arches are permanently anchored into the court, which is often made of hard sand. The court has 10 arches built to be a double diamond shape. Since this is played on a court instead of grass, it plays much faster than croquet, which leads to much more impactful deflections. 

As is not a surprise, the U.S. swept the medal stand in roque. The winner of the gold medal probably told you everything you needed to know about the sport. Charles Jacobus was 64 years old when he won the tournament. Jacobus was known as the father of American roque, as the editor of Spalding’s Annual Roque Guide. Silver medalist Smith Streeter was about to turn 60 years old, and bronze medalist Charles Brown was the youngster at 37.

Today, it’s hard to find a place to play Roque. In 2004, Roque tournaments were permanently canceled because of a lack of participation. There is still one every year in Angelica, New York, but it’s definitely not a household name for Olympic sports.