30 greatest one-time sports in Summer Olympics history
By Nick Villano
22. Dramatic works
1928 Amsterdam Games
There were literally dozens of art events at the Olympics from 1912 to 1948. It seems insane today that this competition of athletics added events that are basically anti-athletics. While some might say events like gymnastics and synchronized swimming are their own art form, this is literally art. Some of the examples of multi-year events include architectural design, town planning, and watercolors. However, there are a few one-off events that made the art portion of the Games.
We’ll start with “dramatic works,” which only has one medal awarded at that year’s Games (but it’s no longer recognized by the IOC for some reason). Lauro De Bosis was a famous Italian activist who performed a retelling of the Greek myth “Icaro.” He used the platform to produce an anti-fascist memo to the world.
De Bosis lived an insane life. Not only did he win the silver medal (despite nobody winning gold), but he also taught at Harvard, delivered newsletters to speak out against Mussolini in Italy in the 1930s, and he died in a plane accident after he convinced someone to let him fly over Rome so he could drop leaflets speaking out against tyranny. Somehow, winning an Olympic medal is a footnote.
As is this event. Dramatic works never took off, and they were removedfrom the games by 1932. By 1954, art competitions were left of the Olympics entirely because artists were considered to be professionals, while the Olympics were focusing on amateurs.