Tug of war, a game played by groups of kids in parks and wherever else they find enough people and place. Adults play this game too, mostly when out on picnics. But tug of war as an organized sport, a competition with rules and regulations and a gold medal being awarded to the winner. We have had a few gold medalists. This is not fiction but fact and this game was conducted in full competitive spirit in none other than the Olympics!

Tug of war is an athletic contest between two teams at the opposite ends of a rope. A central line is marked and each team tries to drag the other over the line. The winner is usually decided by adjudging the best two out of three pulls. This game made its debut in the 1900 Olympics and remained on the Olympic roster till 1920.

Tug of war’s Olympics history
As in the case of any other sport included in the Olympics, this one too had its specifications
relating to size of the teams which varied from five members per team to eight members per team. The length over which the other team had to be pulled was specified as six feet. This would have been meaningless without a time limit being attached to it, so a maximum time limit of five minutes was fixed. The team that was able to pull the farthest within the given time limit was adjudged the winner.

The requirements of the game meant that the team members should be people of immense strength and weight. Since competitors participating in other track events already had these qualifications, discus throwers, shot put throwers and the like doubled as tug of war participants too. In fact, in the 1900 Olympics, the United States had to withdraw from the tug of war competition because its team members were scheduled for a track event at the same time. The gold medal then went to a team comprising of members from Denmark and Sweden. Not one to give up easily, the US team challenged the winning team to an unofficial contest, which ended in a draw.

The Olympics held in the year 1908 saw bitter insinuations exchanged between rival teams. There were accusations of cheating and unsporting behavior. The team from the United States protested loudly against the type of footwear worn by the British team. The British team was made up entirely of police officers and they were wearing their usual heavy boots, which had steel heel plates. These plates sank deep into the ground giving them a sort of anchorage and thus strengthening their hold. With these advantages which were ruled as legal as they were part of the standard British Police uniforms, the British team walked away with the tug of war medals. It later turned out that they had had enough practice of the game too as tug of war had been the current favorite to fill in free time in the British Police force. Their supremacy did not last long. The Swedish team was able to lay its hands on the tug-of-war medal in the 1912 Olympics when the game was played on sand rather than on the usual grass. Here the natural advantage of the heavy boots was absent to aid the British team to ‘pull in’ the medal.

Tug of war in today’s sports scene
The game though not featured in the Olympics is still played earnestly throughout the world. Almost every country has Tug of War associations and matches between teams are played in all seriousness. Various guidelines like type of ground to be used, the area of the ground, the maximum number of pullers per team, the dimensions and quality of the rope to be used, the distance of pull, the position of the rope, the procedure for pulling and so on are laid down by each organization to ensure smooth functioning of the game. Rules are even framed to discourage activities like gouging of holes to obtain better traction, engaging in activities like release and repull to put the other team off balance, side stepping, resting the body on the ground to get better leverage etc. And, of course, detailed specifications regarding the type of footwear allowed for the game are also stipulated.