Paris 1900: The Silliest Ever Olympics

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  • Опубліковано 9 лют 2025

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  • @renerpho
    @renerpho 5 місяців тому +1174

    The story of that unknown boy who became Olympic champion is fascinating. Sadly, the fact that there seems to be nobody who remembers their father or grandfather talking about how they competed at the Olympics as a boy, there's a good chance that he died in the First World War, and the 1900 photo may be the only one ever taken of him.
    EDIT: It seems the boy was Giorgi Nikoladze (1888-1931) from Georgia, see comments below. He was identified in 2016. There's a nice detailed article about him on the Olympic World Library website.

    • @thephoenixking1086
      @thephoenixking1086 5 місяців тому +106

      Yup, it is odd to think that the boy (aka the youngest champion) would have been around 24+ years old during WW1, so the same age as myself right now and a fully grown man.
      I assume he may have told people but the people he told thought he was lying or just wrong, thus ignored him and moved on with their lives completely forgetting what he had said.

    • @TehAxelius
      @TehAxelius 5 місяців тому +187

      ​@@thephoenixking1086the're's also the confusion about this not being billed at the olympics, and he might not have known himself, it just being "that time during the exhibition I was part of a rowing competition".

    • @richardmorgan9273
      @richardmorgan9273 5 місяців тому +95

      Since he helped the Dutch team win gold defeating the French team, maybe he was told to keep quiet (assuming he was a local French boy)?

    • @renerpho
      @renerpho 5 місяців тому +50

      @@TehAxelius Good point. Even some of the (official) athletes never knew they had competed at the Olympics, so how should he have know...

    • @renerpho
      @renerpho 5 місяців тому +61

      The fact that a photo of this was taken, and still exists, is no less amazing.

  • @t7vp7
    @t7vp7 5 місяців тому +619

    There were more bonkers swimming events in the 1900 Olympics: there was “obstacle swimming” where swimmers had to dive under and climb over boats. There was also “team swimming” where my great grandfather won a gold medal, without actually swimming (since his team mates already got enough points in the complicated scoring system). They then had trouble at customs getting their trophy back to Germany.

    • @1121494
      @1121494 5 місяців тому +10

      Nevermind there was also (unolympic) olympic pistol duelling...

    • @Delibro
      @Delibro 5 місяців тому +15

      Wow, you are the grandson of an Olympic gold medalist. That's something to be proud about :)

    • @RichardWilson1984
      @RichardWilson1984 5 місяців тому +4

      With the target dressed as a dandy!

    • @Niek3457
      @Niek3457 5 місяців тому +3

      ​@@Delibro And then he had a grandfather in Nazi Germany.... Maybe not all of the family history is as pretty 😂

    • @chantalvanderende515
      @chantalvanderende515 5 місяців тому +17

      @@Niek3457 What am I missing here? Just because a person happened to be in Germany during WWII (which we don't know, because his grandfather could have gone anywhere in the 40 years that followed...) doesn't mean they were a nazi. Wtf is this comment?

  • @JanRademan
    @JanRademan 5 місяців тому +164

    They will finally be reintroducing cricket at the LA28 games after the last appearance in the 1900 Games. There have been many discussions to do so over the years, but they had to wait for the 1900 match to end first.

    • @TrevorMoses312
      @TrevorMoses312 3 місяці тому +2

      😆😄😃😀I am not holding my breath for the Proteas to win anything 😳😳🇿🇦

    • @insertnamehere5809
      @insertnamehere5809 2 місяці тому

      There's a chance that Bangladesh 🇧🇩 might win a medal 🏅 in cricket 🏏 (They are the biggest nation not to have won an Olympic medal)

  • @bentoth9555
    @bentoth9555 5 місяців тому +505

    My favorite Olympic event is still the 1904 marathon. It was just a complete cluster**** of stuff going wrong. Including a runner cheating in a car, another one taking a nap, and one getting chased off course by dogs.

    • @AramcoPhil
      @AramcoPhil 5 місяців тому +80

      you forgot the part where the eventual winner was fed Strychnine (basically Rat poison) by his "doctors" at least twice!

    • @abigailcooling6604
      @abigailcooling6604 5 місяців тому +40

      Heard about this on an episode of Citation needed, still makes me laugh 😂

    • @bentoth9555
      @bentoth9555 5 місяців тому +11

      @@abigailcooling6604 that's where I heard about it.

    • @WatanabeNoTsuna.
      @WatanabeNoTsuna. 5 місяців тому +30

      And another running in street clothes for the wrong country. And another that, having not eaten anything for the day prior, stopped to grab some apples at an orchad, and got food poisoning. And another who was poisoned as a means of dopping. 😂

    • @panda4247
      @panda4247 5 місяців тому +17

      @@bentoth9555 by the way, it was a tangent from Jam Handy, who competed in swimming in those Olympics.
      It's the same Jam Handy who then made several videos for Chevrolet (they were partly educational, partly commercial - telling about the technologies Chevy used, like the suspension, differential,...)
      These videos can be still found on youtube, and I have to say, they are quite good educational content. You can see "Jam Handy production" written in the beginning

  • @felipecrespo6197
    @felipecrespo6197 5 місяців тому +213

    How to win a gold medal in the olympics.
    Paris 1900, pelota basque event. Only 2 teams, France and Spain. There's a disagrement about the rules of the game and France doesn't play. First gold medal for Spain with no game played.

    • @sandydennylives1392
      @sandydennylives1392 5 місяців тому

      Who got the silver medal, Chad?

    • @martijnspruit
      @martijnspruit 5 місяців тому +8

      So, arguing the rules before the game actually works.

    • @MarcelVolker
      @MarcelVolker 5 місяців тому +13

      To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill - Sun Tzu

  • @lukesmith5018
    @lukesmith5018 5 місяців тому +455

    So it was basically a cross between a school sports day and village fête

    • @57thorns
      @57thorns 5 місяців тому +12

      Exactly that, if you by "school sports day" mean the Olumpic games, and by "village féte" means "world fair or similar huge exposition event". 🙂
      I am definitely not saying you would be wrong, on the contrary I think that makes perfect sense.

    • @billyskoda6839
      @billyskoda6839 5 місяців тому +4

      And they still let them hold it in 2024... break dancing f f s...

    • @samp9539
      @samp9539 5 місяців тому +4

      Only less well organised.

    • @mattb4721
      @mattb4721 5 місяців тому +3

      I can't believe Tim failed to tell us about the famous 1900 olympic coconut shy.

    • @hairyairey
      @hairyairey 5 місяців тому +2

      @@billyskoda6839 "Breaking" was a one off, fortunately.

  • @thatoneguy7191
    @thatoneguy7191 5 місяців тому +299

    Hats off to random French boy, what a legend

    • @ericdunn555
      @ericdunn555 5 місяців тому +27

      I think the word you may be looking for is "Chapeau!"
      😜😜

    • @thatoneguy7191
      @thatoneguy7191 5 місяців тому +6

      @@ericdunn555 C’est juste!

  • @eddiedeclown34
    @eddiedeclown34 5 місяців тому +81

    in the velodrome, there was a tandem bike race, where the Dutch duo started swinging left to right on the track because one of them drank too much cognac. that was one of the stories of Dutch Olympic histrory broadcasted this year

    • @insertnamehere5809
      @insertnamehere5809 2 місяці тому

      The tandem bike 🚲 was still on the Olympic cycling program up until the 60's (Tokyo)

  • @GeistView
    @GeistView 5 місяців тому +867

    In a 124 years a future content creatior will point to a patch of concrete and say, "124 years ago this is where the Olympic sport of "Breaking" took place.

    • @renerpho
      @renerpho 5 місяців тому +46

      Imagine... A future historian, standing at Place de la Concorde between Fontaine des Fleuves and Fontaine Wallace, telling an excited audience about the most important thing that ever happened here...

    • @vanhaven7331
      @vanhaven7331 5 місяців тому +49

      "And fun fact, one of the competitors was a college professor selected from amongst the public. How silly these ancient people were, am I right?"

    • @eddiejc1
      @eddiejc1 5 місяців тому +29

      @@renerpho "So...the most important thing that EVER took place here was the first Olympic 'breaking' competition in 2024?"
      "Yes, that's right."
      "You do know WHY this place (no pun intended) is called 'Place de la Concorde'?"
      "Uh..no."
      "I thought so."

    • @GerardMenvussa
      @GerardMenvussa 5 місяців тому +45

      "In 2024, they organized the very first ray gun shooting competition."

    • @divinerowecom
      @divinerowecom 5 місяців тому +43

      And Canada lost the drone football spying competition even while being the sole official competitor.

  • @rocketboysmc
    @rocketboysmc 5 місяців тому +181

    IMPORTANT the "hot air ballooning" was not using hot air but is actually regular ballooning using either helium or hydrogen.

    • @rocketboysmc
      @rocketboysmc 5 місяців тому +21

      Ah I forgot to also mention they may also have used wood/coal gas.

    • @alexisdespland4939
      @alexisdespland4939 5 місяців тому +3

      if it was useing real hot air they would have t leave from somewhere near the french parlement build every on no know that politians are full of hot air alot of the time. lol

    • @1258-Eckhart
      @1258-Eckhart 5 місяців тому +28

      As evidenced by the perfectly spherical (and closed) buoyancy sacs.

    • @PhilMasters
      @PhilMasters 5 місяців тому +32

      YES. I wish people would stop reflexively sticking “hot air” in front of the word “balloon”.
      The French did indeed invent hot air balloons back in the 18th century, but promptly dropped the idea in favour of gas balloons because it was pretty useless. Modern hit air balloons, using sophisticated burners, were a 1960s invention.
      Gas balloons of that tine could use hydrogen or coal gas, but hydrogen was twice as efficient, so I’d assume that competition balloons would use that.

    • @kelvinc
      @kelvinc 5 місяців тому +1

      @@rocketboysmc As shown in the recent Olympic cauldron, the French also invented that!

  • @marklima74
    @marklima74 5 місяців тому +185

    Twin daughters of my best friend, Scarlet & Eliza Humphrey, will be representing Great Britain (swimming) in this year’s Paralympics. I am forwarding this to them because, as per usual it’s funny & informative top-notch viewing, but also because it can be listened to by the visually-impaired without missing out any of the brilliant content. Thank you, Tim, for this and all your great content 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

    • @renerpho
      @renerpho 5 місяців тому +23

      Best of luck to them!

    • @badbiker666
      @badbiker666 5 місяців тому +8

      If I can manage to catch their event on the television, I will be cheering for Scarlet & Eliza. Best of luck to them both!!

    • @helenjohnston3178
      @helenjohnston3178 5 місяців тому +2

      Good luck girls! 🏊‍♀️🏊‍♀️🏅

  • @FelixvonMontfort
    @FelixvonMontfort 5 місяців тому +219

    10 points for the soundtrack!

    • @jocassid1
      @jocassid1 5 місяців тому +18

      Chariots of Fire on accordion, la bamba on piano

    • @JudgeHill
      @JudgeHill 5 місяців тому

      @@jocassid1 cricket music too

    • @thomashanon165
      @thomashanon165 5 місяців тому +2

      yes... couldn't focus because of the music... really good

    • @smhorse
      @smhorse 5 місяців тому +2

      Question of Sport

    • @atd9886
      @atd9886 5 місяців тому +11

      And 'Float on' by Modest Mouse during the part about air balloons

  • @simongiesen2664
    @simongiesen2664 5 місяців тому +44

    An interesting fact about that rowing competition: even though the Dutch team won that race, it does not count as a Dutch medal. Since the boy was French, they officially competed as a mixed team (IOC Code ZZX). Only the first three games had mixed teams. The Netherlands achieved their first official gold medal 20 years later in Antwerp 1920.

  • @JanRademan
    @JanRademan 5 місяців тому +86

    Underwater swimming is actually quite possible. Most Olympic swimmers as so good at it these days, FINA had to ban swimming underwater for more than 15m.

    • @franksierow5792
      @franksierow5792 5 місяців тому +11

      I suspect underwater swimming for too long is banned because breath holding for a long time underwater can be surprisingly dangerous. A search for something like "dangers of breath holding underwater" gives lots of info. I used to do it before I read about the dangers.

    • @nikibordeaux
      @nikibordeaux 5 місяців тому +3

      ​@franksierow5792 Every sport done on Olympic level is pretty dangerous.

    • @telhudson863
      @telhudson863 5 місяців тому +14

      Underwater swimming was banned because it is so much faster than conventional strokes. If they allowed it then swimming would no longer be a spectator sport.

    • @ssgtmole8610
      @ssgtmole8610 5 місяців тому +1

      I used to be able to do an entire pool length on one breath.

    • @bostonrailfan2427
      @bostonrailfan2427 5 місяців тому +1

      underwater swimming is just an extension of the big starting dive so it’s entirely doable in a controlled environment with assistance nearby

  • @mrtnsnp
    @mrtnsnp 5 місяців тому +130

    Tug of War seems like a sport ripe for reintroduction. And Fierljeppen is a great spectator sport as well, as well as great torture for all presenters that have to pronounce it.
    And here is a fun one: It may be a part of the Olympics the world forgot, but from 1912 to 1948, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) handed out medals across five creative arts categories including architecture, painting, sculpture, literature and music. Bring it on!

    • @QuantumHistorian
      @QuantumHistorian 5 місяців тому +19

      Problem with tug of war is it's so dangerous. Seriously.

    • @MargotRiedstra
      @MargotRiedstra 5 місяців тому +3

      En kaatsen?

    • @LeafHuntress
      @LeafHuntress 5 місяців тому +13

      One of the reasons I hope the Olympics come to the Netherlands is to have Fierljeppen. It's a shame Amsterdam didn't get the centenary for 1928...
      I mean we have the high jump & the far jump without a pole. Then there is the high jump with a pole,(or two if you are a French Olympian) but not the far jump with a pole? And thank the Frisians to add suspense to it by making the competitors jump over a body of water.

    • @rogerwilco2
      @rogerwilco2 5 місяців тому +3

      Oh buy. Architecture.
      That would cause a lot of discussion.
      Would be great for publicity.

    • @KyrilPG
      @KyrilPG 5 місяців тому +1

      I want a flower bouquet competition to be introduced as new staple discipline in the next Olympics!
      Turkish oil wrestling is nice too...
      That and body painting on athletes, preferably with the French 2-poles pole vaulter, and the, also French, "package" diver from the 2024 games.
      It would be so much fun! 😅

  • @eddiejc1
    @eddiejc1 5 місяців тому +126

    I don't expect Tim to fly to St. Louis to cover the 1904 Games (which I heard were worse than 1900), but the 1908 London marathon might be worth making a video about. That race was so popular that it fixed the length of the marathon race.

    • @aikumaDK
      @aikumaDK 5 місяців тому +37

      The 1904 marathon is mental. I recall an episode of Tech Diff's Citation Needed, where they talk about this, in the extra footage.
      "While Frederick Lorz was greeted as the apparent winner, he was later disqualified as he had hitched a ride in a car for part of the race. The actual winner, Thomas Hicks, was near collapse and hallucinating by the end of the race, a side effect of being administered brandy, raw eggs, and strychnine by his trainers. The fourth-place finisher, Andarín Carvajal, took a nap during the race after eating spoiled apples. "

    • @sirBrouwer
      @sirBrouwer 5 місяців тому +3

      @@aikumaDK wait wasn't that the Boston marathon they ren (in name of the Olympics).
      Don't forget the South African guys that just run along because why not. (they where not even part of the race but a conference of the Boerwar next door)

    • @actuallylcfr
      @actuallylcfr 5 місяців тому +7

      @@aikumaDK Give Jon Bois' video on the 1904 marathon a watch!

    • @Becky_Cooling
      @Becky_Cooling 5 місяців тому

      @@aikumaDK That's where I found out about it too

    • @KyrilPG
      @KyrilPG 5 місяців тому +11

      It wasn't really a question of popularity, the distance always was about 40km, and was initially fixed at 26 miles (41,843 meters) for London 1908 Olympics.
      But the distance was slightly extended to 42,195 meters (26 miles and 385 yards) to have the start line at Windsor castle (to please the royal kids) and the finish line in White City Stadium.
      After varying again for some years and Olympics, it was fixed for the Paris 1924 games in 1921, as the distance used in London was recorded and deemed the closest to the path supposedly taken by the legendary Greek messenger, in 490 BC, between Marathon and Athens roughly via today's Nea Makrii, Mati, Diastavrosi, Pikermi, and Pallini, bypassing the mountain by the South.

  • @PaulMcElligott
    @PaulMcElligott 5 місяців тому +259

    “In 1900, they used real live pigeons.”
    At least they were alive when it started.

    • @jensschmidt
      @jensschmidt 5 місяців тому +25

      And if they were still alive by the end, you probably didn't get a medal...

    • @SeverityOne
      @SeverityOne 5 місяців тому +16

      @@jensschmidt But maybe the pigeon did: 'first place in dodging shot'.

    • @flitsertheo
      @flitsertheo 5 місяців тому +8

      @@jensschmidt That is the very reason why they changed to clay pidgeons, because the real ones were too uncooperative.

  • @YaztromoX
    @YaztromoX 5 місяців тому +34

    By all accounts, Archery in the 1900 games was also bonkers, with upwards of 5000 competitors (although officially only 153 are considered to by Olympians - and we only know the partial names of 17 of these competitors today). Almost all the competitors were from France (with 6 from the Netherlands, and the rest from Belgium). In some events there was no Bronze awarded, as there were only two competitors.

    • @korakys
      @korakys 5 місяців тому +5

      All third place medals were awarded retrospectively for the first two Olympics. Gold medals were a later innovation, bumping silver and bronze down two ranks in prestige.

  • @NomicFin
    @NomicFin 5 місяців тому +62

    Not sure which is more bonkers: the Paris 1900 Olympics or the time Emperor Nero competed in the ancient Greek Olympics and won every contest he participated, including the chariot race where he crashed into a wall and failed to finish (on the logic of "well, if he hadn't crashed he surely would have won, and also please take that gladius off my neck").

    • @wangsengsin2527
      @wangsengsin2527 5 місяців тому

      This reminded me of the running scene from The Dictator

    • @Frank-Lee-Speeking
      @Frank-Lee-Speeking 5 місяців тому +8

      Don't forget that Kim Jung Il, the then-dictator of North Korea (and father of the current dictator of North Korea) scored 11 holes-in-one the very first time he played golf, presumably in the same way that Nero won his Olympics: nobody dared saying he didn't actually do it.

  • @tristanhenchoz1034
    @tristanhenchoz1034 5 місяців тому +29

    Great video as always
    Regarding ballooning, it was done with gas balloon instead of hot air balloon, and such competition still exists today. It's call "Gordon Bennett's cup", and this year edition should take off from Münster (Germany) around the 12th of september.

    • @ssgtmole8610
      @ssgtmole8610 5 місяців тому +3

      I hope the prevailing winds don't take them into the warzone. 🌬🎈😅

  • @MartyFox
    @MartyFox 5 місяців тому +71

    It’s an interesting alternate history to imagine if the Olympics had been fully, permanently subsumed by the World’s Fair.
    In addition to 1900, the IOC originally chose to hold the 1904 Games in Chicago but moved them to St. Louis to align with the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition. The 1908 Games were awarded to Rome, but when Rome diverted the Olympic budget to volcano relief in Naples, the IOC again chose to ride the coattails of the Franco-British Exhibition in London.
    It’s really thanks to the Swedes in 1912 that the Olympics became a real rival to the world’s fair. They even added art competitions to compete with the world’s fairs directly.

    • @theblah12
      @theblah12 5 місяців тому +18

      It’s interesting that the World’s Fair used to be such a big deal back then but gets very little press these days - the next one is in Tokyo next year, apparently.

    • @petea8917
      @petea8917 5 місяців тому +14

      It's worth giving some credit to the 1906 Athens Olympics, which - while not recognised as official today - was the event that really saved the Olympic movement. Given the disastrous games of 1900 and (particularly) 1904, the games probably wouldn't have made it as far as 1912 if the Greeks hadn't managed to dig the IOC out of its hole.

    • @zork999
      @zork999 5 місяців тому +7

      The winner of the 1912 Olympic Poetry contest was Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who entered under a pseudonym. Poetry and other arts events were on the program for 40 years.

    • @mfaizsyahmi
      @mfaizsyahmi 5 місяців тому +2

      I would watch a 1 hour video essay about the synergy between the Olympics and Worlds Fairs.

    • @dzonikg
      @dzonikg 5 місяців тому +1

      @@theblah12 Worlds fair was like Olympic today,cities spending insane amount off money building venues where big part would be demolish after it .International juries judged the various exhibits, awarding medals of gold, silver and bronze.That competition made huge progres in tehnology in late 19 century

  • @tazbertdt
    @tazbertdt 5 місяців тому +41

    Sounds like there might be room for a Part 2 to this one Tim! :)

  • @fredygump5578
    @fredygump5578 5 місяців тому +38

    Finally! Some olympic coverage that I can get behind. (I think Monty Python had some very serious ideas for Olympic events that could be considered?)

    • @Ian_Carolan
      @Ian_Carolan 5 місяців тому +7

      Definitely, the Upperclass Twit of the Year could be adapted I'm sure.

    • @apveening
      @apveening 5 місяців тому +1

      @@Ian_Carolan Great minds .... ;)

    • @ihathtelekinesis
      @ihathtelekinesis 5 місяців тому +3

      I’m sure if we have Hide and Seek at LA28 the final will finish before LA hosts its fourth Games.

    • @Becky_Cooling
      @Becky_Cooling 5 місяців тому +3

      @@ihathtelekinesis Did you hear about what happened at the world hide and seek championship 1999?
      They're still looking for the winner
      (In case you couldn't tell the above is a joke and didn't really occur)

    • @hugobouma
      @hugobouma 5 місяців тому

      @@Ian_Carolan That's just Equestrian.

  • @Toad-In-A-Puddle
    @Toad-In-A-Puddle 5 місяців тому +303

    I want more of: "How not to do a thing". 😂

    • @wteff8586
      @wteff8586 5 місяців тому +14

      I mean there's plenty of that on this channel :D

    • @Voyagerch75
      @Voyagerch75 5 місяців тому +13

      The 1904 Olympics in Saint Louis, these were just as crazy.

    • @MikeGill87
      @MikeGill87 5 місяців тому +10

      For more from this category, look no further than 1904 Saint Louis Olympics. 🙂

    • @Rob2
      @Rob2 5 місяців тому +10

      It seems like a topic for Monty Python's flying circus...

    • @bcarp
      @bcarp 5 місяців тому +4

      @@Rob2 "How not to be seen" is like that

  • @Kejhic
    @Kejhic 5 місяців тому +13

    Hedvika Rosenbaum, a tennis player from Bohemia, was another interesting case. In the women's tennis competition, she was seeded straight into the semifinals. She lost her match 0-2 (6-1, 6-1), but the match for third place was not played, so she won a bronze medal for her defeat (along with the loser of the other semifinal). In the mixed doubles, she and her partner were not seeded directly into the semifinals, but won their quarterfinal match to reach the semifinals. They lost 0-2 (6-3, 6-0) and took the bronze medal again. Hedvika competed without the support of the Bohemian Olypmic Committee, which competed independently of the Austrian team, even though the Bohemia were part of Austria at the time. As a German-speaking Jew, she did not identify with the Bohemian team and competed for Prague, her home town.

  • @Evemeister12
    @Evemeister12 5 місяців тому +14

    Firefighting was an olympic event in 1900, but was abandoned when competitors accidentally put out the olympic flame.

  • @philmus1
    @philmus1 5 місяців тому +11

    San Marino just won their first competitive match!!!!!

  • @RossParker1877
    @RossParker1877 5 місяців тому +66

    Gold medal for Charriots of Fire, Question of Sport and definitely Going for Gold in the background!

    • @MrAlsachti
      @MrAlsachti 5 місяців тому +5

      It took me a while to recognize the music from Chariots of Fire without the synthesizer.

    • @rogerwilco2
      @rogerwilco2 5 місяців тому +1

      Heheheh, Tim has a way with music.

    • @frankkrunk
      @frankkrunk 5 місяців тому +6

      ...and Kraftwerk's Tour de France, interrupted by the cricket reveal.

    • @yannicklaisne5436
      @yannicklaisne5436 5 місяців тому

      Chariots of fire is about the 1924 olympic games, not the 1900.

    • @RossParker1877
      @RossParker1877 5 місяців тому +3

      @@yannicklaisne5436 🤷‍♂️

  • @Tilten
    @Tilten 5 місяців тому +17

    I think the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm were even sillier, it introduced art competitions: literature, sculpture, painting, architecture, and music. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, president of the IOC and founder of the modern Olympic movement won the gold medal for literature….😮😊

    • @andershansson2245
      @andershansson2245 5 місяців тому

      Pretty epic-ly chaotic Marathon that year aswell

    • @Frank-Lee-Speeking
      @Frank-Lee-Speeking 5 місяців тому +1

      I'll bet that raised more than a few eyebrows about impartial judging....

    • @andershansson2245
      @andershansson2245 5 місяців тому +3

      @@Frank-Lee-Speeking well technically, he did use a psedonym. Or rather, several, as his winning poem was entered in three different languages (French, English and German).

  • @danihend6773
    @danihend6773 5 місяців тому +15

    In my opinion, this is one of your best videos yet! Funny as hell, and still somehow educational. I enjoy your channel from the very beginning and am still curious for every new video. Great work!

  • @joermnyc
    @joermnyc 5 місяців тому +110

    My guess about what the Ukrainian farmers thought of two Frenchmen in a ballon landing would be about the same as the story of Yuri Gagarin returning from space (he parachuted out of his capsule still in his spacesuit) for the first time and scaring the daylights out of a farmer while he's asking to find a phone to call Moscow.

    • @1121494
      @1121494 5 місяців тому +10

      Gagarin at least still landed back in the soviet union.
      How do you even handle customs and immigrations for multiple international boarders crossed in a hot air ballon and finally landing in a random field?

    • @flitsertheo
      @flitsertheo 5 місяців тому +5

      I guess they would have asked for the nearest telephone or telegraph station to confirm their arrival in Ukraine. Must have been an interesting conversation considering the French unwillingness to speak any other language than their own and those Ukrainian farmers not capable of speaking any other language than Ukrainian or Russian.

    • @jamesjoyce5962
      @jamesjoyce5962 5 місяців тому +4

      They might have been able to communicate in Polish. Cities in that territory were a mix of Poles and Russians, as Ukraine did not exist yet.

    • @joieman
      @joieman 5 місяців тому +4

      Gagarin be like:
      Greetings, earthling! I come in peace! Can I call home?

    • @carddamom188
      @carddamom188 5 місяців тому +2

      If it were in America:
      - Hello DC, I see an unidentified object in the sky!
      - 🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫💣💣💣💣💣🧨🧨🧨🧨🧨💥💥💥💥

  • @tdb7992
    @tdb7992 5 місяців тому +4

    I remember hearing that Ireland's first Olympic gold medal was for swimming - but no one actually went into a pool. Painting was an Olympic sport and Ireland won for a painting entitled 'Swimming'.

  • @elh93
    @elh93 5 місяців тому +9

    So now a days there is a weight requirement for coxswains, at least at the collegiate level, in the US. This is actually because of my dad's freshman (first year of uni) boat, they had a 89lb (40kg) coxswain, where as the navy academy had a minimum weight requirement of 125lbs (57kg) just to get in. At the end of a race that's quite a bit of effective distance. So now for any coxswains who weigh in lower than the minimum, they've got to cary sand balast.

  • @dwbusk1
    @dwbusk1 5 місяців тому +3

    Wonderful as always. Thank you, Tim. And one of the very few UA-cam channels where the comments are worth reading - thank you everyone else.

  • @matthewcraver9917
    @matthewcraver9917 5 місяців тому +12

    The title of "Most Bonkers Olympics" has strong competition from the very next edition: the 1904 Saint Louis Olympics. Among other things, the Russo-Japanese War was underway at the time so ocean travel to the U.S. was difficult. We don't know how many athletes participated or even have an accurate count of the number of nations represented. They were supposed to take place in Chicago but Saint Louis was running the Louisiana Purchase International Exhibition so (this will sound familiar) they started organizing their own sporting events and insisted that their events should take priority. De Coubertin then moved the Olympics to Saint Louis. Since the Exhibition ran for nearly an entire year, so did the Olympics, running from July to November, making it the longest Games. Events included a sport called "roque", essentially croquet on a hard court and "Anthropology Days". The 1904 Marathon could deserve a video all by itself, featuring a winner who was given strychnine as a pep-up and then helped across the finish line with two literal supporters.

  • @Joseph2302
    @Joseph2302 5 місяців тому +14

    Finally a video about 1900 Olympics that includes the horse long jump

    • @IsabelJones69
      @IsabelJones69 5 місяців тому

      It looks like the steeplechase race.

  • @albevanhanoy
    @albevanhanoy 5 місяців тому +24

    Okay the balloon competition going all the way to Poland and Ukraine is actually quite an insane story.

    • @paulsengupta971
      @paulsengupta971 5 місяців тому +17

      Whereas the underwater swimming was just in-Seine.

    • @landsgevaer
      @landsgevaer 5 місяців тому +3

      @@paulsengupta971 😂
      most underrated comment yet

    • @1121494
      @1121494 5 місяців тому

      So how did they even do the customs and immigrations for those?

    • @San1984
      @San1984 5 місяців тому +1

      ​@@1121494not sure the border controls were as high then

  • @yannicklaisne5436
    @yannicklaisne5436 5 місяців тому +27

    The marathon was a complete mess. The runners had to make a round around what were the Paris' fortifications. The race began in the afternoon of the hottest day of the games and officials didn't put any sign at all for the runners. They even didn't cared to stop the trafic and they have to run among cars and trucks ! 14 runners took part to the race and only 7 finished the race. They had nothing to eat or drink and they had to buy some water for themselves. One of the french contestant made about the half of the race, stopped at a bar and got some beers. After a while, he just said he didn't care about the race anymore and withdrew. And got himself another beer !

    • @andershansson2245
      @andershansson2245 5 місяців тому +2

      It wasn't just the French runners taking shortcuts, just read that the runners each had a bicycle ordinance who would ensure they did not run in the wrong direction, but even these did not know the right way. Swedish runner Ernst Fast got one who several times had to stop and ask for directions. Being completely lost, and Fast believing he was in the lead, totally lost it and threw himself in a ditch. but resumed after the ordinance finally managed to persuade him to continue... Fast finished 40 mins after the winner, makes you wonder how long he spent lying around feeling sorry for himself..? 😆

    • @philhawley1219
      @philhawley1219 5 місяців тому +3

      Stopping for a beer and then having another sounds like a sport I could excel in. Many years of practicing have gone into my vigourous training regime.

    • @fosterfuchs
      @fosterfuchs 4 місяці тому

      A French contestant stopped for beer, not wine? That's odd.

    • @yannicklaisne5436
      @yannicklaisne5436 4 місяці тому

      @@fosterfuchs Well in fact in France we drank then almost more beer than wine.

  • @webchimp
    @webchimp 5 місяців тому +8

    For a sequel on Olympic silliness you need to talk about Town Planning, Poetry, and... Poodle clipping.

  • @PurpleTT99
    @PurpleTT99 5 місяців тому +3

    Possibly the most entertaining vid yet, Tim. Great stuff.

    • @heliofaros1344
      @heliofaros1344 5 місяців тому

      Also very efficient, with the low travel expenses 🙂

  • @forton615
    @forton615 5 місяців тому +10

    If I'm not mistaking they also had painting and poetry contests in the Olympics back then.

    • @TheTimTraveller
      @TheTimTraveller  5 місяців тому +13

      Those arrived a few years later - they started in 1912 and were abandoned after 1948, so they featured at Paris 1924 but not Paris 1900. Either way, they're well worth mentioning!

    • @bigaspidistra
      @bigaspidistra 5 місяців тому

      Plus town planning.

  • @Francois_L_7933
    @Francois_L_7933 5 місяців тому +10

    I would love to hear the commentators describe Olympic Croquet 😂 But you missed a few that took place and that we'd really love to see, like cannon shooting, automobile tourism (probably a real life game of mille-bornes), first aid (who will be the bleeder is the big question), pigeon racing (probably with tiny medals for the pigeons), lacrosse...

    • @paulsengupta971
      @paulsengupta971 5 місяців тому +1

      Let's hope the timing of the pigeon racing and pigeon shooting didn't coincide.

  • @stefansauvageonWhaATwist1369
    @stefansauvageonWhaATwist1369 5 місяців тому +10

    4:08 That hasn't stopped the Tri-Wizard tournament

    • @IsabelJones69
      @IsabelJones69 5 місяців тому +1

      I know about that because my brother recently read The Goblet of Fire and I read the blurb.

  • @tluagel
    @tluagel 5 місяців тому +2

    Brilliant video! Among the list of "Olympic events" shown at 2:43, I'm still curious to learn about "lifesaving" and "military exercise". I suspect the latter to be an early version of the Penthatlon militaire (fencing, horseback riding, javelin, etc).

  • @darryldyke1264
    @darryldyke1264 3 місяці тому

    Because of this wonderfully obscure subject topic, myself and my friends won a pub quiz a couple of weeks after you released this Tim. Thanks for that and I'm most definitely going to be checking out the the European Tram Driving competition😎

  • @challalla
    @challalla 5 місяців тому +25

    Coxswains have the potential to be involved in some unusual Olympic records. In the 2024 Olympics, Henry Fieldman of Team GB won a bronze medal coxing the women's eight, adding to the bronze he won in Tokyo three years ago in the men's eight. I believe he is the first athlete to win medals in both men's and women's Olympic events.

  • @turingmachine4617
    @turingmachine4617 5 місяців тому +5

    “How Not To Do A Thing” would be a good subtitle for @TheTimTraveller channel- uh, I mean that you often cover things that go wrong or don’t work, not that this wonderful channel is riddled with silliness and bloopers. 😅😊😏

  • @michaelnee1987
    @michaelnee1987 5 місяців тому +1

    One of your best videos yet. Fantastic.

  • @metropod
    @metropod 5 місяців тому +5

    And now you’re going to get a second influx of views since the story of the underwater swimming made the Lateral highlights channel

    • @Becky_Cooling
      @Becky_Cooling 5 місяців тому +1

      I'm here for a second time because of it.

  • @abigailcooling6604
    @abigailcooling6604 5 місяців тому +4

    My fave event at the 1900 Paris Olympics (although it doesn't actually have full Olympic status) was the motor racing. It was the only time motorsports had been (sort of) part of the Olympics in the shape of various categories of car, van and truck races.
    There was even electric taxi, fire engine and electric delivery van races!
    The sad thing is that we often don't know who was driving and winning in some of the races, usually only the make of car and the country have been recorded.
    As a big fan of F1 and related motorsports, I would love to see motorsport - even if it's just go-karting - make a return to the Olympics today.
    Source: Wikipedia - Motor racing at the 1900 Summer Olympics.

  • @sea80vicvan
    @sea80vicvan 5 місяців тому +3

    Bonkers is the best description of the 1900 Olympics. That said, it will be interesting to see how well cricket fares with the crowds in 2028, given that it's, well, a bit more popular worldwide now than it was back then.

  • @michaelmccutchan7229
    @michaelmccutchan7229 5 місяців тому +3

    Loved this video Tim! I enjoy your videos very much. They are entertaining and educational....and this one is a gem!!!

  • @breesco
    @breesco 5 місяців тому +1

    I was gonna say "solo synchronized swimming" - and then I discovered it's a real olympic event! Nice presentation of the event - well done!

  • @bobolamo
    @bobolamo Місяць тому

    Tim you are so funny. Believe me you deserve millions of subscriptions, with your dry English humor.

  • @ChaosPrimus
    @ChaosPrimus 5 місяців тому +1

    I have posted it many times before, but I'll say it again. I love your choices of music and it never ceases to make have to pause and rewind as I try figure out what that song was, and then laugh when I finally figure it out (This time Float On by Modest Mouse!)

  • @aidanoc19
    @aidanoc19 5 місяців тому

    As someone who thoroughly enjoyed Paris 2024, thanks for this gem of Olympic history. I ran in the Bois De vincennes nearly 30 years ago and had no idea the Velodrome was there. I'd have had a look!

  • @AndersDahnielson
    @AndersDahnielson 5 місяців тому +9

    Not to mention that the whole event was held over three months.

  • @AllonKirtchik
    @AllonKirtchik 5 місяців тому +5

    I’m pretty sure my great-great-grandparents in Zhytomir will have seen the Olympic ballooning winners flying overhead, but unfortunately that information was never passed down to our time

  • @McRocket
    @McRocket 4 місяці тому

    Absolutely brilliant, Tim.
    Thank you!

  • @chucku00
    @chucku00 5 місяців тому +2

    Vangelis "Chariot's of fire" accordion cover is bonkers! Bravo!

  • @Vtarngpb
    @Vtarngpb 5 місяців тому +7

    0:09 the siren in the background immediately made me think of the cutscene where Carter Pewterschmidt goes to Paris 🤣

  • @acmejia
    @acmejia 5 місяців тому +1

    Wonderful video! As always! Thank you Tim :)

  • @Hermann_Victor_Echo
    @Hermann_Victor_Echo 5 місяців тому

    What an excellent historical research, but above all: a superb narration of an unbelievable collection of hilarious events! An absolute gem of a video, Tim! It will trigger many LOL's around the world!

  • @paulhubsch5111
    @paulhubsch5111 5 місяців тому +71

    Olympics then were crazy, I guess... look at the Marathon of the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, many videos on UA-cam

    • @beth12svist
      @beth12svist 5 місяців тому +16

      My favourite take is the Citation Needed one, because it really underlines the chaos.
      Through most of this video I had that giddy feeling of "Oh! It gets better! It gets better!" that that event inspires. It indeed was glorious chaos!

    • @SometimesCompitent
      @SometimesCompitent 5 місяців тому +8

      Shoutout Jon Bois.

    • @freddiespreckley6324
      @freddiespreckley6324 5 місяців тому +7

      The same person who organised the 1904 marathon also organised the 1908 London one, with essentially the same result, but with the addition of the Royal Family getting involved, with female members waving them off from Windsor Castle, and the competitors having to run the wrong way around the track when they reached the stadium, so they would go past the King in the Royal box prior to finishing. This led to several competitors having to be turned around on the track to go the other way round. It also led to the length of marathons being set at it's current length, as sending them around the wrong way added a few extra yards to the exactly 26 miles it had been.
      Actually all the games up to WWI were pretty weird.

    • @paulhubsch5111
      @paulhubsch5111 5 місяців тому +1

      @@freddiespreckley6324 To be fair, modern Olympics just started 1896. Let's give 'em some leeway 😀

    • @paulhubsch5111
      @paulhubsch5111 5 місяців тому +3

      @@freddiespreckley6324 English Wikipedia: "After the success of the 1896 Games, the Olympics entered a period of stagnation which threatened its survival. The Olympic Games held at the Paris Exposition in 1900 and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis in 1904 failed to attract much participation or notice. Of the 650 athletes in the 1904 Olympics, 580 were American; the winner of the marathon was later disqualified upon discovery of a photograph of him riding in a car during the race."

  • @michaelbruckner6364
    @michaelbruckner6364 5 місяців тому

    Loved this episode- absolutely perfect! All the wonderfully informed comments are great too.

  • @castlering
    @castlering 5 місяців тому +2

    Oh that was gloriously bonkers! Thank you for the Sunday evening laugh that I didn't realise I needed :)

  • @Tuning3434
    @Tuning3434 5 місяців тому

    This entire episode made me remember why I REALLY like this channel.

  • @mfaizsyahmi
    @mfaizsyahmi 5 місяців тому

    I was reading the history of past Olympics by chance and the interplay between it and World's Fairs runs really, really deep. Alas, with the enshittified Internet it's incredibly difficult for anything to come up in search. I know Tim's style of on-site video reporting can't cover the various venues throughout the history, so if anyone can explore this topic thoroughly you'd have my overflowing appreciation.

  • @filmscorefan96
    @filmscorefan96 5 місяців тому +1

    When that rendition of the Chariots of Fire theme first started, it broke me so much that I had to pause the video for a moment because I was laughing so hard I couldn't hear it 🤣🤣🤣

  • @TheFilmFatale
    @TheFilmFatale 5 місяців тому

    Loved this video…thank you!
    I know your videos are all roughly this length but I readily would have watched your wonderful unpacking of these crazy events that was twice as long…👏👏👏

  • @biosaari
    @biosaari 5 місяців тому +7

    Yay! You're back!

  • @Dr.K.Wette_BE
    @Dr.K.Wette_BE 5 місяців тому +4

    What a mess ! 🤣
    Thanks Tim ! 👍 🥇

  • @wollaminfaetter
    @wollaminfaetter 4 місяці тому

    We need to bring back the Olympic game spirit of Paris 1900!!! And BTW thank you for all the great videos. I appreciate all the work you do to keep us entertained. AI is killing UA-cam and guys like you are the antidote

  • @dotkomist
    @dotkomist 5 місяців тому +3

    That was worth watching for the musical cues alone.

  • @t.a.k.palfrey3882
    @t.a.k.palfrey3882 5 місяців тому

    This must rank as your most timely and amusing of all the videos of yours that I've enjoyed. It finally twisted my metaphorical arm and had me subscribe. Merci, vielen dank, and diolch yn fawr. 😅

  • @PlanesTrainsEverything
    @PlanesTrainsEverything 5 місяців тому

    Totally and utterly bonkers. What a great video.

  • @Rumpel-r4d
    @Rumpel-r4d 5 місяців тому +1

    I loved every second of it !!! Thank you so much, Tim !
    A lot of comments about 1904's St Louis games ...
    I guess when the comittee in St Louis heard from the Paris events they thought : "The French did the craziest Olympics ? Hold my Kilgore's !

  •  5 місяців тому +4

    When I saw the title of this video, I was confusing it with the 1904 Olympics for a moment, which were apparently also quite crazy, but having looked it up now, those were in the USA. The only thing I knew about the 1900 Olympics is the pigeon shooting story you brought up. Quite absurd that they ever thought that would fly even then, no pun intended.
    Imagine any of the unusual sports held in these Olympics were still part of the current ones, though. How would those have changed over the years, I wonder?

    • @ssgtmole8610
      @ssgtmole8610 5 місяців тому

      Squab (cooked pigeon) was popular in Paris at one point. That might have been during the Siege of Paris.

  • @GustavPapillon
    @GustavPapillon 5 місяців тому

    1:38 love the "Chariots of Fire" theme on concertina.

  • @davidcronan4072
    @davidcronan4072 5 місяців тому +72

    What, no water polo using real horses?

    • @cassert24
      @cassert24 5 місяців тому +6

      Yeap. No horse polo using real water.

    • @sirBrouwer
      @sirBrouwer 5 місяців тому +15

      it was not possible they could not make a polo shirt big enough for the horses.

    • @alexisdespland4939
      @alexisdespland4939 5 місяців тому

      i am not sure that water polo was yet invent horse power polo p might have been included,

    • @andershansson2245
      @andershansson2245 5 місяців тому +1

      @@alexisdespland4939 water polo and 'horse'polo were both included in the 1900 games.

    • @davidjones332
      @davidjones332 5 місяців тому +1

      The Seine was already full of poop without adding horse muck to the mixture.

  • @samuelunderwood665
    @samuelunderwood665 5 місяців тому

    I love you episodes, but I think this is my favorite from you. Outstanding. Thank you.

  • @mariagabriela_bia
    @mariagabriela_bia 5 місяців тому +1

    Another amazing video from Tim! Thank you.

  • @GCNuno
    @GCNuno 5 місяців тому

    Hey Tim. I've been watching your videos for some time and I just wanted to show some appreciation. I love your content. Keep up the good work!! :)

  • @icetwo
    @icetwo 5 місяців тому +5

    6:04 This is how the first stories arose about spaceships and visitors who all spoke a strange language. I'm sure Roswell were just a few French

  • @AC30001
    @AC30001 5 місяців тому

    Totally amazing installment. Seriously, great travelogue.

  • @lukefarnish7635
    @lukefarnish7635 5 місяців тому +7

    Great video as always Tim. I've been working through your back catalogue to cheer myself up the last few days.
    I hope there's a follow up to this with all the motor sports of the 1900 Olympics. This includes by a long way my favourite ever Olympic sport - Delivery Van Racing (both petrol and electric variations. Yes, electric... in 1900!). They also had taxi races, trucks, cars of various sizes and fire engines.
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_racing_at_the_1900_Summer_Olympics

    • @AvGeekLucky
      @AvGeekLucky 5 місяців тому +1

      I'd love to see F1, FE, WRC, MotoGP and WEC drivers race each other in equal equipment. Even if that equipment is a delivery fan 😁.

    • @jacktattersall9457
      @jacktattersall9457 5 місяців тому

      FedEx representing the US, Purolator representing Canada, and DHL representing Germany fighting it out.

  • @dels7902
    @dels7902 5 місяців тому

    Great job Tim, really enjoyed this video. Really enjoy your whit and humor.

  • @BraindeadXtreme
    @BraindeadXtreme 5 місяців тому

    Its hilarious, i allready heard some more storys from this Event. I would really enjoy to see another Video about this Olympic Games from you

  • @peteradaniel
    @peteradaniel 5 місяців тому

    The music for these vids! Chef’s kiss. It’s a collection of millennial childhood memories.

  • @stowe07
    @stowe07 5 місяців тому +1

    I always enjoy your Paris themed videos!

  • @CassandraCooper-ve5ks
    @CassandraCooper-ve5ks 5 місяців тому

    Underwater swimming could also work in some kind of snorkelling arrangement I suppose, getting your breathing right through that for intense effort would be challenging.
    Between this lot and the 1904 Olympics (including it's infamous marathon) it really is amazing the Olympics survived.

  • @menelise
    @menelise 5 місяців тому

    Brilliant! Looking forward to Part 2.

  • @absolutjackal
    @absolutjackal 5 місяців тому +5

    So this is not one of the 1900 events or has even ever been an event, but I'd like to see the summer equivalent to the ski jump, but it is a water slide. You'd have a competition for distance to see who could go the farthest and one where they do acrobatics/maneuvers in the air and get scored on difficulty of the maneuver and on how little the splash is, just like diving. Heck, you could even have synchronized versions with two slides. I think a ton of people would tune in just to see the belly flop landings, etc.

  • @fToo
    @fToo 5 місяців тому +1

    there's been a high jump competition at the Dublin Horse Show every year since 1964 - called the "Puissance"
    full list of winners available online!

  • @mikerichards6065
    @mikerichards6065 5 місяців тому +6

    But it wasn’t as chaotic as the St Louis games four years later where the first person to cross the line for the marathon had actually ridden a car for most of the distance; several of the competitors nearly died of dehydration and one took strychnine as a stimulant.
    And I quite fancy seeing ballooning back in the games. Novelty shaped balloons only though.

  • @hellmuthschreefel9392
    @hellmuthschreefel9392 5 місяців тому

    Seriously, you have the oddest, but coolest videos ever.

  • @jimboshizz
    @jimboshizz 5 місяців тому

    As always the music cues are on point, Modest Mouse gave me a right giggle.

  • @duchessme5817
    @duchessme5817 5 місяців тому

    That was such an enjoyable video. Thank you.

  • @LeanneModenPoet
    @LeanneModenPoet 5 місяців тому

    Fab video. Also very pleasing to hear a bit of Modest Mouse on the keys halfway through. Lovely job!

  • @BOABModels
    @BOABModels 5 місяців тому +1

    I'm very much looking forward to cricket's return at the next Olympics. I wonder if France are hoping for another chance at a medal - you're a Brit in France, Tim. Thinking about signing up for the XI de France?