It began with weightlifting and a chap called Launceston Elliott on the second morning of the first ever modern Olympics, in Athens in 1896.
It’s rumbled through all sorts since, some familiar - athletics, swimming, cycling - and some lost - polo, tug-of-war, rackets, Jeu de paume (look it up).
Here in Paris, though, was something altogether new, as Toby Roberts claimed Great Britain’s first ever Olympic medal in climbing, the 44th sport to contribute to the nation’s tally across Summer and Winter Games.
And he did so in dramatic style, surging from third at the midway stage of the men’s boulder and lead final to take gold in a competition that went down to the very last climb.
Japan’s Sorato Anraku was last to go and Roberts’s fate in his hands, but the 17-year-old came off the wall while still ten points adrift, taking silver and leaving Britain to their 14th gold of the Games.
“I'm just absolutely lost for words,” Roberts said. “To find out that I got the gold in that moment, it was just truly incredible.
"I've been training for this moment my whole life, and now I've just won. To say it hasn't sunk in is an understatement.”
Climbing sport made its debut at the Tokyo Games, but has been split into two disciplines in Paris, with speed climbing now a separate pursuit to the combined elements of boulder and lead.
The boulder sees competitors given four walls to solve, with four minutes permitted on each and points awarded for progress up to a maximum of 25 for a wall successfully “topped”.
Ankaru set the early standard, scoring a perfect 25.0 on the first wall and then becoming the only man to make it to the top section of the second.
However, Roberts claimed the same honour on the third wall and trailed the Japanese climber by only six points at the halfway stage of the final, with America’s Colin Duffy splitting the pair, just one point off the lead.
Team GB’s Hamish McArthur was also at that stage in medal contention in fourth. The 22-year-old had only just scraped into the final after finishing eighth in Wednesday’s semi with a total score of 79.3, but here delivered a huge uptick in his performance, first to go on the lead wall and racking up a final score 125.9, good enough for fifth.
In lead, athletes are given six minutes and one attempt each to climb as high as possible up a 15-metre overhanging wall, collecting points as the difficulty of the climb increases along the way.
Austrian legend Jakob Schubert, a six-time world gold medalist, had disappointed in the boulder section, but went close to perfection in lead, scoring 96 points from a possible hundred to surge into gold medal position.
He was ousted by Roberts, who then faced a nervy wait as Ankaru made a confident start to his attempt to snatch the title.
The 17-year-old, though, blundered within touching distance to leave Roberts head in hands in disbelief as confirmation of his crowning flashed on the big screen.
