Tug of war at the Summer Olympics its time as an Olympic sport, it was considered to be part of the Olympic athletics programme, although the sports of tug of war and athletics are now considered distinct. Teams consisted of 6 members in 1900 (Denmark and Sweden competed together), 5 members in 1904, and 8 members in the last three appearances of the sport. Tug of war at the Summer Olympics Tug of war was contested as a team event in the Summer Olympics at every Olympiad from 1900 to 1920. Originally the competition was entered by groups called clubs. A country could enter more than one
Tug of war at the 1900 Summer Olympics opponents. There are sources that report that the Scandinavian team won by two pulls to one, but the majority record it as a 2–0 victory. As late as 1974, the "Olympic Review" listed the United States team of John Flanagan, Robert Garrett, Truxton Hare, Josiah McCracken, Lewis Sheldon and Richard Sheldon as the gold medalists for the 1900 tug of war. A report in the Paris edition of the "New York Herald" described the tug of war contest at the Olympic Games as being "an object lesson in how not to do a thing". The report mentioned the Scandinavian team's