# Olympic sports origins **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 27, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-sports-origins/261849 "2004-08-27T21:33:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-sports-origins/261849/1 "2004-08-27T21:33:59Z")
badminton boxing canoeing cycling fencing field hockey football (soccer) gymnastics handball marathon synchronized swimming table tennis tennis track and field (all events) triathlon water polo baseball (USA) basketball (USA) softball (USA) volleyball (USA) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-sports-origins/261849/2 "2004-08-28T00:18:48Z")
I assume you’re asking where each sport originated. In many, there’s no set origin, since they’ve been around for so many years that no one really knows who started them. Basketball, of course, was invented by James Naismith of the US in 1891. Volleyball also has US origins, invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan. The marathon’s name dates back to ancient Greece, after the battle Marathon. The story was that a courier named Pheidippides ran from the site of the battle to Athens. When they decided to have a long distance race, they named it after the battle. Its distance was officially set in the London Olympics of 1948 so the course could begin at Windsor Castle and end in Wembly Stadium. Track and field competition go back to the ancient Greeks. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-sports-origins/261849/3 "2004-08-28T00:21:07Z")
I assume you’re asking where each sport originated. In many, there’s no set origin, since they’ve been around for so many years that no one really knows who started them. Basketball, of course, was invented by James Naismith of the US in 1891. Volleyball also has US origins, invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan. The marathon’s name dates back to ancient Greece, after the battle Marathon. The story was that a courier named Pheidippides ran from the site of the battle to Athens. When they decided to have a long distance race, they named it after the battle. Its distance was officially set in the London Olympics of 1908 so the course could begin at Windsor Castle and end in Wembly Stadium. Track and field competition go back to the ancient Greeks. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-sports-origins/261849/4 "2004-08-28T02:07:49Z")
Where did table tennis get started? > [@RealityChuck](#): > > The marathon’s name dates back to ancient Greece, after the battle Marathon. The story was that a courier named Pheidippides ran from the site of the battle to Athens. When they decided to have a long distance race, they named it after the battle. The way I heard it, when he arrived, he only had time to say “Rejoice; we have won!” before falling over dead. The first x-treme sport, perhaps? It’s always cooler to try something that someone else died doing. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-sports-origins/261849/5 "2004-08-28T02:12:26Z")
Dang, if only you could edit your own posts here…Lemme reword that. Dimitri: I’m going out for discus this year. Whaddayou going out for? Spyros: Marathon. Dimitri: What’s that? Spyros: Running. 26 miles. Dimitri: That’s it; just running? Spyros: Some guy once died doing it. Dimitri: …Cool! ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-sports-origins/261849/6 "2004-08-28T05:40:16Z")
Sports history site: [http://www.hickoksports.com/history/sprtindx.shtml](http://www.hickoksports.com/history/sprtindx.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-sports-origins/261849/7 "2004-08-28T05:45:56Z")
From [here](http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics_2004/badminton/history/default.stm) > [@](#): > > But badminton’s roots date back centuries, having originated from a children’s game known in England as “battledore and shuttlecock”. > > … > > The game had been played for centuries by children in the Far East, and was adapted by British Army officers stationed in India in the 1860s. That’s a bit confusing. Did both English and Far Eastern children play this game? Maybe so. But there’s no question that the name comes from a country estate owned by the Duke of Beaufort.