We have so far made no mention of the 2024 Summer Olympics, and this must be remedied. I am myself an Olympics junkie, sucked in by the games of 19…whatever. I watch in my own special way, of course. There are events I watch through my fingers (“Don’t fall, don’t fall, don’t make me watch you fall”) and a few I watch through my eyelids (“Could I get a medal if I stay awake for five more minutes?”) But we will discuss MY Olympics some other time (the acquaintance who mentioned he had a gold medal, the cousin who had a bronze, the time my bosses had scored a public relations coup and someone said “The only thing that could stop us now is if a bomb goes off at the Olympics”. All semi-interesting stories which can wait for another day.
What I wanted to mention was that the array of postcards about married life shows a relation to the Olympics I had not suspected. This British card, for example, shows that the 100-yard dash was well known to cartoonists early in the twentieth century.
Wrestling, of course, was known in antiquity. Styles may have changed, as seen in this Spanish card of about the same vintage as the British one, but the sport is unmistakable.
In the world of boxing, this card from 1908 or thereabouts shows that the postcard artists were ahead of their time, envisioning mixed boxing (the female boxer is apparently given an equipment advantage.)
It is also no surprise that a sport as old as golf gets its place in the marital Olympics.
And I believe this is some version of fencing, though if some reader out there can identify it as a lesser-known martial art, I will accept that explanation. (Yes. I see that the card claims this is poker, but sporting terms change with the years. At first, because of the shape of their weapons, I was thinking this might be miniature golf.)
There are simply too many cards showing various forms of running and tumbling, but the most popular event, represented in dozens if not hundreds of cards, is that classic track and field competition, throwing the dishus.
The postcard artists were interested in all forms of athletic endeavor. This may be one of the first pieces of evidence that curling was being considered for the Winter Olympics even before there WAS a Winter Olympics. The lady’s size and her readiness to make use of a broom show she was an enthusiastic curler.
And in some cases, we have illustrations of sports which are no longer part of the Olympic lineup. This lady is demonstrating her skill at the early Biathlon, a combination of weightlifting with stairclimbing. (We do not have time for side issues, but I hope you have observed that some Olympic uniforms were as impractical as some of today’s: how many events nowadays are performed in heels?)
This card is one of the few pieces of evidence we had for what must have been an invigorating sport in Mixed Peekaboo Relay.
While the record of Tug of War at the Olympics is well-documented, we have only the postcard artists to tell us that good old-fashioned wheelbarrow races were considered as well. Maybe we will see some of these marital games at the 2028 Olympics. Or you will: looking over these illustrations leads me to believe I’d watch most of these with my hands in front of my eyes.
Blogsy Babbles 