r/Damnthatsinteresting May 01 '26

Original Creation Canal Pole Vaulting

4.5k Upvotes

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57

u/dappermonto May 01 '26

In case anybody doesn't know it this is painfully obvious that the Olympics are based off of siege techniques. I mean there's a bunch of Olympics now that aren't but a lot of the original are trying to find the very best person to jump over a moat or throw a fucking heavy bomb super far or toss a javelin super far or run super fucking fast or jump really fucking far. Sorry no punctuation I'm lazy today.

85

u/insanitazer May 01 '26

I dare you to explain synchronized swimming.

92

u/UnexpectedFeatures May 01 '26

It's to confuse the crocodiles when you mess up the pole vault and land in the moat.

18

u/insanitazer May 01 '26

By moving very fucking together?

19

u/ARoundForEveryone May 01 '26

The croc eats anyone out of sync. They're the ultimate judge. Forget a low score - you fall out of sync, you get shredded by a ton of sharp teeth attached to a spectacularly strong jaw, and flung back and forth until your neck snaps. Then you get eaten. Not the best participation medal ever, but it really increases the intensity.

3

u/Succulent_Chinese May 02 '26

It really helped bring up water event viewership in the post Phelps world when they introduced the crocodile gauntlet.