30 greatest one-time sports in Summer Olympics history

25. Rackets
1908 London Olympics

There are dozens of tennis variations, and many of them have made their debut at the Summer Olympics here or there. That’s the case here for “rackets,” which is an indoor racket sport. No, it’s not racquetball. It’s actually closer to squash, but again, not squash exactly. 

The history of the sport reportedly began in British prisons where people were trying to come up with a faster-paced game, so they replaced bat fives with tennis racquets. After prison, the sport was spreading to the alleys outside bars and pubs. Once it became cool to play in schools, its popularity exploded in the 18th century. 

Some of the rules, including the inability to leave the court unless risking forfeiture of the match, had to be changed because they were proving dangerous. There was also a spotter added because players were running into each other. By the time the sport hit the Olympics, it was in a much better place. England wildly swept the sport, winning all medals in both singles and doubles. (And that’s because no other country had a participant, which might have led to the sport never appearing at another Olympics.)

Rackets is still a sport today, with rules that have not changed much to stay different enough to squash. A world champion is even crowned every year, but we don’t see that champion ever competing at the Olympics again.