Archery - yes
Athletics - for fitness? Throwing stuff? Vaulting over ditches?
Baseball - No
Badminton - no
Basketball - no
Beach Volleyball - no
Boxing - yes
Canoe/Kayak - yes
Cycling-Mtn Bike - yes
Cycling-Road - yes (maybe)
Cycling-Track - no
Cycling-BMX- yes
Diving - maybe
Equestrian - Eventing - possibly (see pentathlon - origins are similar)
Football (aka Soccer)
Fencing - yes
Artistic Gymnastics - no
Rhythmic Gymnastics - no
Trampoline - no
Handball - no
Field Hockey - hockey stick can be a useful weapon.
Judo - yes
Modern Pentathlon - sure
Rowing - maybe
Sailing - maybe
Shooting - yes
Softball - no
Swimming - yes
Synchro Swimming to distract the enemy?
Tennis - no
Taekwondo - yes
Triathlon - yes
Table Tennis - no
Volleyball - no
Weightlifting - no
Water Polo - no
Wrestling - maybe

Clearly synchronized swimming was born of necessity.

It was useful to confuse predators....

It just throws better, no? Like, if you're going to see how far you can throw things, you might as well pick the furthest-throwing? That would work in battle as well, I'd imagine. A rock-throwing kind of battle?

I think they should add in the caber toss. Because you never know when a telephone pole is going to piss you off.

Badminton thingies are the fastest moving thingies in sports. I'd trust those reflexes for something hunting related, or perhaps just bopping people on the head sharply.

hockey stick can be a useful weapon

Having played field hockey in prep school, I heartily agree.

perhaps just bopping people on the head sharply.

Again, a useful survival skill. More so than most, if you have the wrong sort of coworkers.

When we were doing our rankings (we weren't throwing anyone out of the pool) the back and forth on where many of the team sports like baseball and basketball fell was because it involves rudimentary survival skills (running, evasion, throwning, hitting) but the stylization/rules factor comes into play. We couldn't figure out if we'd rank that higher or lower than say something like fencing or shooting, because again, still a lot artificial rules imposed on the skill. And yeah, still rules in running or swimming, just fewer on the form of engagement. However, a greater combination of skills!

We never came to a conclusion because Optimist Prime decided to attack and the conversation got even more derailed.

We never came to a conclusion because Optimist Prime decided to attack and the conversation got even more derailed.

Heh.

Let's say humanity for some reason had no weapons at all. Which Olympic skill would best be able to defend against an attack of Kang and Kodos armed with boards with nails stuck in them?

Which Olympic skill would best be able to defend against an attack of Kang and Kodos armed with boards with nails stuck in them?

Rhythmic gymnastics.

New event for survival Olymics: Sheep to Shawl contest.

And afterwards, they can butcher the sheep and roast it while wearing their shawls.