Thank you, Arlene, for sharing a cool newsletter with me. I signed up for Seneca and now receive an email with two interesting facts. Everyone knows I love fun facts!!!
In the most recent email, I learned that dueling with pistols was once an Olympic sport. Men (said with a deep sigh and a shake of the head.) Who thought that shooting each other was a good way to right an offense? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to have a face-off in which the loser lived, so they learned their lesson? Of course, lots of people didn’t die in duals, but one (I’m looking at you, Alexander Hamilton) was too many. I’m glad that today we have video games to vent our feelings.
In 1901, Dr. Paul Devillers, who enjoyed dueling (which seems a dangerous hobby), developed a wax bullet and a special gun to fire it. He wanted dueling to continue without the threat of death. (It sounds like the precursor to paintball.)
The titles of several articles stated that pistol dueling was an Olympic sport. That was only partly true. In 1906, the Olympics had an honorary Olympics between the regular summer Olympics held every four years. The Intercalated Games in Athens was an approved Olympic event at the time but is not recognized now.
Pistol dueling was an event at the 1906 Games, but they didn’t point the guns at humans. Instead, competitors shot at a dummy dressed in a costume. I don’t think this is a duel since you really need two people.
During the regular Olympics in 1908, a dueling group using wax bullets held an exhibition outside of the Olympic Pavillion. They were not connected with the Olympics. so I don’t think this counts either. This was the last time dueling was ever associated with the Olympics.
So if someone says dueling was an Olympic sport, you can let them know that’s not strictly true. But the fact that people wanted to make dueling a sport into the 20th century is interesting (and crazy.)