Sports

Competition climbing splits into speed, bouldering and lead, and asks three fairly different things of the same athlete.

Competitive dance is scored like gymnastics, which is why its place on a sports list is a recurring fight.

Throwing at a board where the scoring rewards precision over power, in a room that treats it as entertainment.

One of the few sports where an animal is half the team, and the only Olympic sport where men and women compete together.

Competitive video gaming with leagues, transfers and salaries. Whether it belongs here is the argument itself.

Routines scored on difficulty and execution, judged by people, which is where most of the arguing comes from.

Everyone faces backward, so nobody except the coxswain can see where the boat is going.

The simplest sport to start and the hardest to stop arguing about, from park routes to marathons.

Street and park, judged on tricks landed. It arrived at the Olympics with its own culture already fully formed.

Twenty-two balls on a table bigger than a pool table, played in near silence and scored in breaks.

Scored on the waves you catch, so the ocean decides how much material each competitor gets.

Four strokes, and races decided by hundredths. Turns and underwater phases matter as much as the swimming.

Swim, bike, run, back to back, with the clock still running through the changeovers.

The lowest score wins, the course is different every time, and the handicap system exists so unequal players can compete.

Running, jumping and throwing, grouped into one sport. The events share a stadium and almost nothing else.

Road racing is a team sport disguised as an individual one: most of the squad exists to shelter one rider from the wind.

A board game with its own world federation, tournaments and doping rules — which is exactly why people argue about the label.