Paris 1900: The Silliest Ever Olympics

[@renerpho]

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]

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]

​@@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]

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]

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

[@renerpho]

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

[@t7vp7]

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]

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

[@Delibro]

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

[@RichardWilson1984]

With the target dressed as a dandy!

[@Niek3457]

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

[@chantalvanderende515]

@@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]

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]

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

[@insertnamehere5809]

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

[@lukesmith5018]

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

[@57thorns]

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]

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

[@samp9539]

Only less well organised.

[@mattb4721]

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

[@hairyairey]

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

[@bentoth9555]

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]

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

[@abigailcooling6604]

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

[@bentoth9555]

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

[@WatanabeNoTsuna.]

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]

@@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

[@eddiedeclown34]

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]

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

[@thatoneguy7191]

Hats off to random French boy, what a legend

[@ericdunn555]

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

[@thatoneguy7191]

@@ericdunn555 C’est juste!

[@felipecrespo6197]

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]

Who got the silver medal, Chad?

[@martijnspruit]

So, arguing the rules before the game actually works.

[@MarcelVolker]

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

[@rocketboysmc]

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

[@rocketboysmc]

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

[@alexisdespland4939]

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]

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

[@PhilMasters]

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]

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

[@GeistView]

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]

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]

"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]

@@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]

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

[@divinerowecom]

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

[@marklima74]

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]

Best of luck to them!

[@badbiker666]

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]

Good luck girls! 🏊‍♀️🏊‍♀️🏅

[@simongiesen2664]

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.

[@FelixvonMontfort]

10 points for the soundtrack!

[@jocassid1]

Chariots of Fire on accordion, la bamba on piano

[@JudgeHill]

@@jocassid1 cricket music too

[@thomashanon165]

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

[@smhorse]

Question of Sport

[@atd9886]

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

[@tazbertdt]

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

[@tristanhenchoz1034]

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]

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

[@eddiejc1]

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]

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]

@@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]

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

[@Becky_Cooling]

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

[@KyrilPG]

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.

[@JanRademan]

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]

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]

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

[@telhudson863]

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]

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

[@bostonrailfan2427]

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

[@mrtnsnp]

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]

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

[@MargotRiedstra]

En kaatsen?

[@LeafHuntress]

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]

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

[@KyrilPG]

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! 😅

[@YaztromoX]

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]

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.

[@Kejhic]

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.

[@danihend6773]

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!

[@fredygump5578]

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]

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

[@apveening]

@@Ian_Carolan Great minds .... ;)

[@ihathtelekinesis]

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

[@Becky_Cooling]

@@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]

@@Ian_Carolan That's just Equestrian.

[@RossParker1877]

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

[@MrAlsachti]

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

[@rogerwilco2]

Heheheh, Tim has a way with music.

[@frankkrunk]

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

[@yannicklaisne5436]

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

[@RossParker1877]

@@yannicklaisne5436 🤷‍♂️

[@Toad-In-A-Puddle]

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

[@wteff8586]

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

[@Voyagerch75]

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

[@MikeGill87]

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

[@Rob2]

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

[@bcarp]

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

[@NomicFin]

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]

This reminded me of the running scene from The Dictator

[@Frank-Lee-Speeking]

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.

[@elh93]

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.

[@MartyFox]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[@dzonikg]

@@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

[@dwbusk1]

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

[@Evemeister12]

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

[@TrevorMoses312]

😳😀😃😄😆😂😅

[@PaulMcElligott]

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

[@jensschmidt]

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

[@SeverityOne]

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

[@flitsertheo]

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

[@tluagel]

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).

[@michaelmccutchan7229]

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

[@darryldyke1264]

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😎

[@ChaosPrimus]

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!)

[@joermnyc]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[@carddamom188]

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

[@PurpleTT99]

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

[@heliofaros1344]

Also very efficient, with the low travel expenses 🙂

[@philmus1]

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

[@castlering]

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

[@matthewcraver9917]

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.

[@Tilten]

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]

Pretty epic-ly chaotic Marathon that year aswell

[@Frank-Lee-Speeking]

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

[@andershansson2245]

@@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).

[@tdb7992]

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'.

[@michaelbruckner6364]

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

[@Hermann_Victor_Echo]

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!

[@chucku00]

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

[@michaelnee1987]

One of your best videos yet. Fantastic.

[@acmejia]

Wonderful video! As always! Thank you Tim :)

[@Vtarngpb]

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

[@Joseph2302]

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

[@IsabelJones69]

It looks like the steeplechase race.

[@McRocket]

Absolutely brilliant, Tim. Thank you!

[@TheFilmFatale]

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…👏👏👏

[@GCNuno]

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!! :)

[@sea80vicvan]

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.

[@webchimp]

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

[@biosaari]

Yay! You're back!

[@dels7902]

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

[@turingmachine4617]

“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. 😅😊😏

[@mariagabriela_bia]

Another amazing video from Tim! Thank you.

[@BraindeadXtreme]

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

[@albevanhanoy]

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

[@paulsengupta971]

Whereas the underwater swimming was just in-Seine.

[@landsgevaer]

@@paulsengupta971 😂 most underrated comment yet

[@1121494]

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

[@San1984]

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

[@PlanesTrainsEverything]

Totally and utterly bonkers. What a great video.

[@breesco]

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

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

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. 😅

[@TheTimTraveller]

Croeso ar fwrdd!

[@samuelunderwood665]

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

[@yannicklaisne5436]

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]

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]

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]

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

[@yannicklaisne5436]

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

[@wollaminfaetter]

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 KZbin and guys like you are the antidote

[@stowe07]

I always enjoy your Paris themed videos!

[@lukefarnish7635]

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]

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]

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

[@malcolm2933]

Hi Tim Always enjoy your videos always highly entertaining, well researched and interesting, you never fail to seek out the curious. Have you thought of doing one on the mysterious SNCF ‘train de foret’ - the “secret” stop that is made only at week-ends and holidays for just ramblers in the middle of the Fontainebleau forest? It does not appear on maps and there is no station, no road access, you just drop down on the gravel at the side of the track! Just two early morning trains from Paris Gare de Lyon pull up there at week-ends for those in the know, in the middle of nowhere and just for lovers of the countryside and trees.

[@LeanneModenPoet]

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

[@michaelmeier2229]

I love your videos and your pianoskills. (the youtube algorism showed me a video from you as a band-member, i never searched for.)

[@AC30001]

Totally amazing installment. Seriously, great travelogue.

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]

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

[@GertRoux]

It is a joy to watch your videos. Through humour you provide us with interesting tales. Please continue to entertain us.

[@BOABModels]

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?

[@filmscorefan96]

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 🤣🤣🤣

[@Rumpel-r4d]

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 !

[@mfaizsyahmi]

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.

[@MrAlsachti]

This is totally bonkers! Thank you for this video Tim!

[@Francois_L_7933]

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]

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

[@davidpage1028]

Brilliant video and well done on all the research you had to do for this

[@duchessme5817]

That was such an enjoyable video. Thank you.

[@davidcronan4072]

What, no water polo using real horses?

[@cassert24]

Yeap. No horse polo using real water.

[@sirBrouwer]

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

[@alexisdespland4939]

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

[@andershansson2245]

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

[@davidjones332]

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

[@bobolamo]

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

[@jimboshizz]

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

[@dotkomist]

That was worth watching for the musical cues alone.

[@abigailcooling6604]

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.

[@kevwang0712]

I was hoping there'd be a video on the 1900 Paris Olympics, the whole weirdness of it all seems a perfect fit for the channel. I remember there was a one-legged gymnast in 1900-or was it at another early Olympics?

[@forton615]

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

[@TheTimTraveller]

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]

Plus town planning.

[@JudgeHill]

great video. as someone who knows lots of Olympic trivia, this was (mostly) all new to me.

[@Stuart-AJC]

This is one of your best. Thank you.

[@aidanoc19]

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!

[@menelise]

Brilliant! Looking forward to Part 2.

[@Shalott63]

Good heavens (or even Sacré bleu), this topic is totally made for you, Tim!

[@stefansauvageonwhat-a-twis1369]

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

[@IsabelJones69]

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

[@AndersDahnielson]

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

[@finnbar87]

Loved your video! Very nicely done. Informative and funny.

[@absolutjackal]

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]

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!

[@thomasdieckmann5711]

Hi Tim, a pleasure to watch, very entertaining! 🙂

[@CassandraCooper-ve5ks]

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.