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Olympics 2012: Sports you won’t see in the London Games From Buzkashi to wife carrying, here are some absolutely bizarre sporting events that are unlikely to become part of the Summer Olympics any time soon.
Chess boxing
What do you get when you cross the physical demands of boxing with the mental strain of chess? Chess boxing, a hybrid sport with alternating chess and boxing rounds, was drawn up in the pages of French comic books. The first world championship was held in Amsterdam in 2003, and it is currently played across Europe and North America.
Johannes Eisele
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AFP/Getty Images
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Buzkashi
At first glance, the Afghan national sport of Buzkashi looks similar to a game of polo. Both games are played on mounted horseback, involve the passing of an object toward a goal and can get fairly rough. But while polo players use a wooden ball, Buzkashi players use a decapitated goat carcass. Popular across Central Asia, Buzkashi exists under different names depending on the host country.
Vyacheslav Oseledko
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AFP/Getty Images
Mustache growing
Mustache growing will almost certainly not become an Olympic sport. But the niche competition – which is believed to have begun in a small German village in the Black Forest – continues to grow in popularity. Contestants compete for the most impressive facial hair in a host of categories, from the "imperial mustache" to best sideburns.
Daniel Berehulak
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Getty Images
Sepak takraw
Native to the Thai -Malay peninsula, Sepak Takraw — or kick volleyball — is a popular sport in South Asia. Unlike traditional volleyball, Sepak Takraw players can only use their chest, feet, head and legs to hit the ball, traditionally made from rattan. The game is won by the best of five sets, similar to tennis, with scoring resembling volleyball.
Lintao Zhang
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Getty Images
Bog snorkeling
Ever wanted to plunge into a filth-ridden swamp more than half a football field long? For competitors in the World Bog Snorkeling Championships, a murky, underwater dip in a Welsh quagmire is their idea of a healthy contest. Bog snorkeling is a timed race in which snorkel-clad athletes swim the length of a peat bog on flipper power alone. Traditional swimming strokes are not allowed.
Mike Hewitt
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Getty Images
Well of Death (Maut ka Kuaa)
With a name like the Well of Death, it's easy to see why this popular Indian spectacle is not going to make it to the Summer Olympics any time soon. Also known as the Wall of Death or motordome in other countries, this game employs centripetal force to perform death-defying stunts on motorcycles and miniature automobiles.
Davinder Luther
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AP
Kabaddi
Part wrestling, part tag and part lung power, modern kabaddi – a sport popular in India – is a fusion of traditional South Asian games. Teams send a "raider" to the opposing side; points are earned each time the raider touches a member of the opposing team and makes it back to one's side safely. Opponents try to take down the raider. If the raider returns safely and you've been touched, you're out. The catch: The raider must yell "kabaddi" repeatedly throughout the “raid.”
Gurinder Osan
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AP
Wife carrying
With a name like wife carrying, it's understandable that critics would call this Finnish-born game a joke. But professional wife carriers take their sport – wherein a male competitor carries a female teammate on his back through an obstacle course – just as serious as any other athlete. A fun fact: Victorious competitors in Finland are awarded a prize in relation to their wife's weight in beer.
Timo Hartikainen
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AFP/Getty Images
Lucha libre
A form of professional wrestling made famous by its athletes’ colorful masks, lucha libre is popular in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries. Translating literally as "free fight," lucha libre does not constrain its wrestlers to the rules of traditional Greco-Roman wrestling, utilizing high-flying acts and ostentatious theater to entertain spectators.
Joe Klamar
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AFP/Getty Images
Camel wrestling
Most common to the Aegean region of Turkey, camel wrestling pits two male camels against each other, their tussle spurred by a female camel in heat. Seen as emblematic of traditional Turkish culture, the sport attracts throngs of tourists annually. The winner of a camel wrestling bout is decided once one of the animals flees the fight or is knocked to the ground.
Khalid Tanveer
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AP
Octopush (Underwater hockey)
The name says it all: It’s hockey played underwater. In octopush, athletes sporting snorkels and mini hockey sticks push a puck underwater toward their opponents’ goal. Developed in a pool in Portsmouth, England, during the 1950s, the original Octopush had eight team members instead of today’s 10 (hence the prefix “octo”).
Randi Lynn Beach
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AP
Caber toss
A sport that seems better fit for a scene in "Braveheart" than international competition, the caber toss is a staple of the Scottish Highland Games. In caber toss, athletes must lift a nearly 200-pound wooden log and balance it vertically. They then run forward and toss the log, aiming to perform a perfect 180-degree flip. Sounds easy enough, right? Now try doing that in a kilt.
Andreas Gebert
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AFP/Getty Images
Mountain unicycling
Ever tried riding your bicycle down a muddy, switchback-plagued mountain path? What about on just one wheel? Mountain unicycling, or municycling, is an emerging adventure sport that involves traversing rough terrain on a specially designed unicycle. Popular in North America, Australia, Europe and Japan, mountain unicyclists compete annually in the World Unicycling Convention and Championships in events that test one’s speed and trick catalogue.
Quinn Rooney
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Getty Images
Cheese-rolling
From the top of a hill near Gloucester, England, tradition-loving locals careen down a steep hill each year, chasing a cylindrical block of cheese. The event is called Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, and it is the birthplace of cheese-rolling, a sport in which competitors race to catch a tumbling cheese block. Racing down a sheer slope, however, is not without danger, as participants often break bones and sustain concussions when competing. First one to grab the cheese wheel takes first place.
Matt Cardy
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Getty Images
Bun climbing
The centerpiece of the Cheung Chau Bun Festival in Hong Kong, bun snatching is a sport grounded in tradition. Each year, competitors race up three 60-foot bamboo towers garlanded in Chinese buns, snatching them up as they climb and putting them in a satchel on their backs. It is believed that the higher a bun is on the tower, the greater fortune it will bring one’s family.
M. N. Chan
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Getty Images
Tejo
Think of cornhole with explosives and you’ve got Tejo, a traditional sport in Colombia. Tejo is played by tossing a metal disc toward an inclined mud box 60 feet away, with the hope of igniting a small paper envelope on the target. Competitors often drink alcohol while playing, so it's not a surprise beer companies sponsor many professional tejo teams.
Adam Liebendorfer
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For The Washington Post
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