Cricket Was Once an Olympic Sport

The 1900 Paris Olympics were a far cry from the global spectacle we know today, held as part of the sprawling World's Fair. Tucked among events like live pigeon shooting and motor racing was a single cricket match, which became the sport's only appearance in Olympic history. The contest wasn't between national teams in the modern sense, but rather two amateur clubs. Great Britain was represented by the Devon and Somerset Wanderers, a touring side on a visit to Paris, while the French team was composed almost entirely of British expatriates from the Standard Athletic Club.

The match itself was a low-scoring, two-day affair contested with 12 players per side instead of the usual 11. Great Britain secured a decisive 158-run victory, but the story's most curious detail is that the participants likely had no idea they were competing for Olympic glory. They believed they were simply playing a match as part of the World's Fair, receiving silver and bronze medals for their efforts which were only retrospectively designated as Olympic gold and silver years later.

Cricket's long match times and limited international footprint, which was largely confined to the British Commonwealth, kept it out of subsequent Games. However, after more than a century, the sport is set to make a dramatic return. A modern, faster version of the game, Twenty20 (T20) cricket, has been approved for inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, finally giving the sport a second chance on the world's biggest stage.