The Peculiar Truth about the Worst Olympics Team Ever
Published in
3 min readJul 30, 2024
- The 2024 Olympics in Paris mark the 33rd international competition since the first modern Olympics in 1896.
- The nation of Tunisia entered the Summer Games for the first time in 1960. The country has participated every year since, except for the boycotted year of 1980.
- Tunisia is located in Northern Africa, a relatively small outcropping of land sandwiched between Algeria and Libya.
- Currently, the population is roughly 12 million people. In 1960, the nation had about one quarter that many citizens.
- Rome, 1960: During Tunisia’s first year ever in any Olympic competition, their pentathlon team became legendary as the most bumbling participants in history.
- An explanation of the pentathlon: As the name suggests, it combines five sports into one challenge. They are fencing, horseback riding, swimming, pistol marksmanship, and running.
- A Frenchman reimagined the sport from the original Greek Olympic pentathlon to reflect the basic requirements of a soldier in battle (or at least a soldier from pre-World War I).
- The swimming contest is a 300 meter freestyle.
- Fencing is a one-on-one challenge.
- Shooters are given an air pistol and must hit targets at a pace of…
