By: Hayley Strahs and Katie Nelson

Graphics and Media Production Editors

When people think of the Olympics, they often think of well-known sports like track, soccer, swimming, or gymnastics. However, after seeing the New York Times’ Olympic Sports Connections category, we discovered sports we didn’t even know existed! Open your eyes to the range of unconventional sports that the upcoming Summer Olympics will offer.

Breaking: When I first heard that break-dancing battles were going to be an Olympic sport, I laughed. I understood gymnastics and other artistic sports requiring extreme strength, but I had never watched a dance battle outside of middle school. Before writing this article, I decided to do some research. I had no idea how much I was missing by never having seen live breaking. I can’t even classify it as a “weird” sport anymore. The amount of core and arm strength necessary for breaking is utterly insane, and your average “dance battle” does not compare. Unless you’ve got the skills for one-handed handstand pushups, lofty jumps, and turning on your arms instead of your feet, leave breaking to the professionals and Olympians.

Steeplechase: This sport is basically a real life version of Temple Run! Not only does it have a weird name, it puts an eccentric twist on a normal track race. I guess someone decided that running was just too boring, so they added 28 barriers and 7 water jumps to spice things up. Even more, the runners can get over the barriers in any way they’d like, whether that be hurdling, vaulting, or something else entirely. It definitely sounds more exciting than a traditional track race, so look out for steeplechase this summer!

Pentathlon: A pentathlon is like a triathlon on steroids. Not only does it consist of five different events, it’s the most random assortment of events you can imagine. The race kicks off with fencing, then moves on to equestrian riding, followed by a 200m freestyle swim. The athletes then proceed to do cross country running and finish it off with pistol shooting. I have serious respect for anyone who attempts this because it seems like it would be hard to be good at just one of those things, let alone all five of them. I’ll definitely be waiting for when this one appears on TV this summer.

Trampoline: Some of my greatest little-kid memories are from doing flips on my neighbor’s old trampoline. Who knew that my favorite childhood pastime was a legit sport! The trampoline industry is truly missing out because there are no legit trampoline gyms in Los Gatos. Imagine how many kids neglect their trampolining potential simply because they have no idea that it’s even a sport.

Skeleton: Skeleton, or sliding face-down on a frozen track, is the sport that inspired this article in the first place. My question is: what do skeleton athletes call themselves? Are they skeletons themselves? Skeleton players? Skeletoners? Be sure to check out these athletes of undetermined name glide at high speeds while somehow not colliding with each other.

Ski Flying:  When I saw this sport on TV I didn’t even try to contain my laughter. In this sport, athletes speed down an extremely steep hill, gathering a crazy amount of speed before launching themselves into the air with the goal being the most distance flown, all looking like flying squirrels when they do it. When trying to discover what this sport was called for this article, I typed into Google ‘Flying squirrel skiing’ and to my delight I got the answer I was looking for, so I know the comparison is not just me.

(Sources: CBS News GQ Magazine, Nike.com Olympics.com)