Bike Balancing

Gold: Earl Sobhraj
Silver: Reggie Vittabhaya
Bronze: Ken Shah Hassan
The gold-medal winning time was 37 days, 24 hours, 9 minutes, breaking the previous record. Serious meditation. Eleven olympians were hurt in the competition, with injuries ranging from pedals scraping faces to decapitation. Surprisingly gruesome.

Cow Bike Jumping

Gold: Cow #17
Silver: Cow #58
Bronze: Cow #8
Cow #17 lept over nine bikes in a row to claim gold, but tore his ACL.

Carrying Sacks Up a Pole

Gold: Mack Shankarswama
Silver: Fred Sohdhi
Bronze: Barry Arunkumar
A sport for the hungry only. Unless you’re starving your mind out and have the right motivation to win the sack of rice you carry, you don’t stand a chance.

Wood Swinging

Gold: Bob Todarmal
Silver: Neil Shahil Mohd
Bronze: Dave Larak
The sport with the biggest fanfare, wood swinging is part costume, part ruggedness. The gold medal-winning performance included a Carmen Miranda fruit hat, spinning fireworks on a thong, and twelve kittens running in a circle around the competitor.

Also: India’s Rural Olympics Feature Unusual Sports
And: Photo Gallery