The world of sport has come a long way since the first Olympic Games about 3000 years ago, when Greek athletes competed in the nude to aid displays of strength and speed.

Lycra was invented, for a start. But the modern age also features games the boys in their birthday suits never dreamt of. Curling, for instance, became an official Olympic winter sport in 1998.

For many sports, progress has been less about reinventing the wheel than changing a spoke. Thanks to the whims of fashion, advances in technology and random bursts of creativity, popular pastimes have merged (trampolining and beach volley ball make up Bossaball) or grown from old roots to take on fresh forms. Counter-culture sport ultimate frisbee, for example, has links to both American football and the ancient track and field competition of discus.

The following new and improved sports come from around the world. Some are entirely original, others are old favourites that have been rediscovered and modernised. All have a following of devotees eager to make them mainstream.

Capoeira
Where: Brazil

A mix of martial art, dance and music, Capoeira was brought to South America by African slaves in the 1500s and is widely practised in Brazil. Now it's becoming a fad in Europe and the East.

Capoeira clubs are springing up, with participants including acrobatic and gymnastic elements in their routines. Players take turns to spar against each other in a roda (a ‘wheel’) blocking and attacking without contact. The emphasis is on grace and control, leading to a distinctive flowing style, with kicks, sweeps, flips, rolls, even cartwheels.

  • Effort level: 8/10

  • Risk factor: 5/10

  • Skill factor: 8/10

    • Website: www.capoeirasa.co.za

    Parkour
    Where: Cities around the world

    Also known as free running, Parkour began in France in the mid 1990s and has spread throughout the world. Parkour is an elaborate form of running around urban areas involving five standard jumps, falls and climbs. Initially, many of the free runners were former gymnasts who had the ability to balance and make spectacular jumps.

    The sport grew as videos appeared on the internet, showing free runners scaling walls, jumping off high vantage points and vaulting over walls and post boxes. Free runners are sprinting about South African cities, but be warned: this is a risky activity and it takes months of practice to pull off even the most basic moves.

  • Effort level: 9/10

  • Risk factor: 7/10

  • Skill factor: 10/10

    • Website: www.highlanders.co.za/parkour

    Ultimate Frisbee
    Where: Cape Town

    Courtesy of...
    Horizons
    Visit Camps Bay on a Sunday afternoon and informal games of ultimate frisbee are likely to be underway. Similar to rugby, but without the contact, this was a originally a counter-culture sport started in 1968 at Columbia High School in America. It spread rapidly across the world.

    Ultimate frisbee is a tactical game played on fields of various sizes, with seven players on each side. The idea is to catch as many passes in the team’s ‘end zone’ as possible, while the opposition tries to land passes in that zone. Teams score up to 15 points and the pace is frantic, particularly when played on the beach.

  • Effort level: 6/10

  • Risk factor: 2/10

  • Skill factor: 8/10

    • Website: www.safda.org.za

    Wife carrying

    Where: Finland
    Each year in early July, the population of the small Finnish town of Sonkajärvi doubles as competitors come from around the world to compete in the World Wife Carrying Championships.

    The event has husbands carrying their wives around a 250-metre obstacle course — including a water hole — in just over a minute.

    Wives must weigh at least 49 kilograms and cling to their husbands in a variety of ways, the most common being upside down. Women wrap their legs around their partners’ necks, then hang face down over their backs. It’s not dignified, but with the promise of wife’s weight in beer as the first prize, plus dubious worldwide fame, the championships are becoming a cult event.

  • Effort level: 9/10

  • Risk factor: 7/10 (depending on how often you drop your wife)

  • Skill factor: 10/10

    • Website: www.sonkajarvi.fi

    Adventure racing
    Where: South Africa

    If there is one sport destined to make it to the Olympics, it is Adventure Racing. This sport takes several disciplines — running, trekking, abseiling, paddling and mountain biking — and stitches them together to create a continuous race, which may also require navigational skills and survival tactics. Races may be anything from three hours to a seven-day sleep-deprivation slog.

    The big daddy was the Eco-Challenge, a 500 kilometre event that took up to seven days to complete. It was televised around the world and popularised the sport globally. Today, adventure racing has become a school sport in South Africa and shorter events are accessible to everyone.

  • Effort level: 8/10

  • Risk Factor: 7/10

  • Skill factor: 7/10

    • Website: www.ar.co.za

    Sport boules
    Where: France

    The French game of boules, or pétanque, began in the early 1900s and is now played by millions around Europe. Now the sport, which normally resembles English lawn bowls, has developed a more athletic version.

    Compared to sedate boules, where participants throw solid steel balls at a jack and hardly raise a sweat, sports boules requires players to throw the balls from one side of the field and then sprint across to the other side to do the same. It requires precision and fitness, and is scored on time and accuracy. Sports boules is even on the short-list as a potential Olympic sport.

  • Effort level: 6/10

  • Risk factor: 1/10

  • Skill factor: 8/10

    • Website: www.petanque.org