Knights are not horsing around – they want to joust for Olympic gold

KNIGHTS used to be rewarded with a kiss from a fair maiden if they won a jousting tournament in the olde days.

Now the former sport of kings could see knights battling it out for an Olympic medal.

And English Heritage are going all out to make it happen.

The organisation has held preliminary talks with the International Olympic Committee about including jousting in future Games and there are hopes that it could be an exhibition event in Tokyo in 2020.

English Heritage believe jousting has all what’s needed to make it an ideal candidate for the Olympics and have started an online campaign to get it included.

It said that while Olympians heading to Rio next month also had the ‘athleticism, agility, skill and strength’ of jousters, they did not have to wear 20kg of steel armour, hold a 12ft lance in one hand, the horse's reins in the other ‘all while thundering towards their opponent at speeds up to 30mph’.

English Heritage's head of projects Lucy Hutchings said: “We are being deadly serious.

"It is such an incredible spectacle to watch these knights go up against each other.

The skill of the knight and the horses make it a great thing to witness. We absolutely believe it deserves its place at the Olympic table.

“We have thousands of visitors who flock to jousting events. Real diehards, jousting groupies.