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Some forms of athleticism at the Olympics do not fit neatly into categories such as aquatics or team sports. This page is for those disciplines and their histories.

History
Some of these sports are almost as old as the Games themselves (weightlifting, triathlon) while others are so new they are only slated to appear in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (skateboarding, sport climbing).

Skateboarding
This event is scheduled to debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games. There will be four categories: mens/womens and street/park.

Sport climbing
This event is scheduled to debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games. The projected scoring method will involve combining scores from lead climbing, speed climbing, and bouldering – traditional climbing, vertical climbing races, and low-height climbing without ropes, respectively.

Pentathlon
The modern pentathlong was first introduced in 1912. Its creator, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, was inspired by ancient events and wanted to create a sport that would measure the capabilities of an ideal soldier. At the time, this meant riding an unfamiliar horse, fighting with a sword and gun, swimming, and running.

The sport disciplines loosely reflecting these abilities are as follows:
– Equestrian (show jumping)
– Epee fencing
– Pistol shooting
– Swimming (200m freestyle)
– Running (a 3km crosscountry run, which is being run on a track starting in 2020)

Triathlon
Triathlons are hardly unique to the Olympics, and have been used as a general measure of physical aptitude among endurance athletes for a very long time. In all cases, athletes begin by swimming, then cycling, then finish with running. The Olympics use international standard distances: 1.5km swimming, 40km cycling, and 10km running.

Interestingly, there are restrictions on the number of athletes who may compete in the event. At the first Olympic triathlon in Sydney 2000, each participating country had a limit of 100 athletes. In 2004, this was adjusted to be a cap of 50 men and 50 women. In Beijing 2008, this limit was increased slightly to 55 each.

Weightlifting
The sport of lifting weights while using proper technique. In the Games’ early days, all lifters competed in the same categories without weight classes. Afterwards, weight classes became a staple of the sport, but the categorization has differed significantly across various eras. Currently, only two-handed techniques are contested at the Games: the clean and jerk and the snatch. The difference between them is the way in which competitors are allowed to lift the bar and weights; the former is a two-part lifting technique and the latter must be done as a single motion.