ONE OF THE EARLIEST OBSTACLE COURSES IN HISTORY

One of the earliest obstacle-based compet itions happened dur ing the 1900 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France, during the two-hundred-meter obstacle swim.

This wasn’t your typical swimming event—it featured three types of obstacles that swimmers had to face in the water:

1. A pole that every swimmer had to climb over
2. A set of rowboats that swimmers had to climb over
3. A set of rowboats that swimmers were forced to swim under

The event was held over a span of two days, with Frederick Lane of Austria winning the gold medal.