Ski Ballet—The Forgotten Olympic Sport

I’m certain there is a Tumblr or YouTube channel dedicated to the bygone events of past Olympics that look fairly silly to modern eyes…but I wasn’t able to find it. What WAS found, however, was this video put out by the official Olympics page highlighting the existence of Ski Ballet. Ski Ballet was a demonstration sport in the 1988 and 1992 games but there were also tours in the 1970s and it was an event with the International Ski Federation all the way up to the year 2000.

Essentially it pairs figure skating moves of turns and flips and such set to music but with…skis on a mountain. That’s basically it. It’s actually a very athletically impressive event given how awkward those long skis can be and the aerial maneuvers are cool, even if the music accompanying them isn’t. Also uncool? That the official Olympics YouTube channel asks “How was this an Olympic sport?” when it was…because of them. Don’t throw these athletes under the bus due to your decisions.

Still it’s a fascinating watch of a completely forgotten event lost in time like tears in the snow.