Live Pigeon Shooting and Hot Air Balloons: Remembering the 1900 Olympic Games

In 2016 the Olympic Games are among the most recognisable events on the planet. Be it for the athletic successes of the world's greatest sportsmen and women, or for the latest corruption and doping scandals, the Games are a global spectacle that attract a TV audience in the billions. Few corporate symbols are more recognisable than the Olympics rings, few ambassadors as famous as Usain Bolt.

But the Olympics did not attain universal significance overnight. A century ago, when the modern Games were in their infancy, there were questions over whether they could make a lasting impact. In fact, the 1900 Games – which began on 14 May in Paris – left the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) fearing for his organisation's long-term survival

The 1900 Games represented the second international Olympics of the modern era, the first having been held in Athens in 1896.

That wasn't the initial plan: the man who led the revived Olympic movement had initially wanted 1900 to be the resurrection Games. Pierre de Coubertin was a French aristocrat and academic with an affection for ancient Greece. This – combined with, among other things, his determination that the men of his country should be physically robust in case of war – helped shape his desire to revive the Olympic Games. Though by no means the only person responsible, de Coubertin has thus been remembered as the father of the modern Olympics.

In June 1894 a congress was held at the Sorbonne, where de Coubertin presented his plans. These were accepted, and de Coubertin suggested that the inaugural Games be held in his home city alongside the 1900 Universal Exposition of Paris.

But de Coubertin had done a sufficiently good job of rousing excitement for the Games that his fellow delegates did not want to wait six years for them to begin. As such, Athens was chosen for Greece's historic links with the Games, while Paris was selected to host the second event four years after.

De Coubertin had become president of the IOC in 1896, but the subsequent Games in his native city would not prove a success. The presence of the Universal Exposition – a world's fair that ran from April to November – both complicated and overshadowed the young Olympic Movement, with the IOC ceding control of the event. Many sports were played in Paris during 1900, but not all were part of the Games. Some definitively were, others certainly were not, while some fell into a grey area. Unofficial events included lifesaving, hot air ballooning, fire-fighting, and pigeon racing.

Events likes these raise a host of questions – did victorious pigeons receive gold medals? – but the Games were not all turn-of-the century Parisian folly. They remain hugely significant as the first in which women were allowed to compete, de Coubertin having believed that their involvement at the 1896 event would be "impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic, and incorrect."

In 1900 female athletes were allowed to compete individually at golf and tennis, though women are also believed to have been involved with croquet and equestrian events.

But it was in sailing that the first medal was awarded to a female competitor. The distinction fell to Helen de Pourtales, a crewmember of the gold medal-winning crew in the 2-3 ton class.

Perhaps the more significant landmark was the first woman to win gold in an individual event. This was achieved by Charlotte Cooper, who defeated France's Hélène Prévost 6-1, 6-4 to clinch victory in the ladies singles tennis contest. Cooper also took the mixed doubles with fellow Brit Reginald Doherty.

Cooper was no stranger to success: by the time of the 1900 Olympics she had played in six Wimbledon finals, winning three of them. She would go on to win another two and, to top it all off, lived to be 96 years old.

1900 was notable for another first – though fortunately this would also be a famous last. For the only time in Olympic history, live birds were used for a shooting event; specifically, participants were challenged to gun down fleeing pigeons.

There's not really a nice way to paint this: the object was to shoot and kill as many birds as possible. Six were released at a time, with competitors eliminated once they'd missed two.

Almost 300 were killed in total, which would have left a hellish mess of feathers and blood on the ground. It was perhaps for this reason that the event was not resurrected for the following games in St. Louis, or indeed ever again.

Away from the bloodshed, a number of the events now seem more fitting for a local fete than the pinnacle of international sport. Tug of war, for example, was contested for the first time at the 1900 Games, and remained an Olympic sport until 1920. Croquet was also played, and reappeared at the 1904 Games in St. Louis, albeit in an Americanised form.

1900 also represented the first occasion on which rugby union was played at the Olympics. The 15-man version of the sport was used again in 1908, 1920 and '24, before dropping off the bill for the better part of a century. It will return this year – albeit in the streamlined sevens format – at the Rio Games.

The rugby tournament of 1900 also produced a notable first: Franco-Haitian player Constantin Henriquez became the first black athlete to win a gold when France beat Great Britain and Germany to victory. Henriquez is also believed to be the first black competitor at the Olympics.

The IOC records 24 nations having sent competitors to the Games, though other historians believe a handful more were in attendance. Hosts France topped the medals table with 101 in total, 26 of them gold. The U.S. and Great Britain completed the top three.

Ultimately, the 1900 Games were swallowed up by the world's fair, a far bigger draw at the time. De Coubertin later admitted that he feared for the Olympics' future. The following games in St. Louis, also held alongside a world's fair, were even more unsuccessful. Indeed, the Olympics may have failed altogether were it not for the Intercalated Games of 1906. Held in Athens, these were not overshadowed by another event and ran to a far more compact schedule, providing a blueprint for the Games' future success. De Coubertin remained IOC president until after the 1924 Games, which saw the Olympics return to Paris with far greater success.

The 1900 Games may have been a failure at the time, but they hold important historical significance for breaking both colour and gender barriers. Those are achievements worth remembering. On the other hand, gunning down live pigeons for sport is a practice best forgotten.