The origins came from Dutch skating races involving obstacles to negotiate by jumping including mounds of snow and beer barrels.

[2] When his friend Roone Arledge began producing Wide World of Sports,[1] it became a staple, first broadcast on January 14, 1962.

It turned out to be a natural made for TV event years before Evel Knievel would gain attention for distance jumping objects like trucks and busses with a motorcycle on the same show.

[6] In 2012, Richard Widmark was inducted into the Northbrook Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago for his accomplishments as a speed skater, cyclist, and barrel jumper.

The skating group traveled across America performing at ice shows while holding down day jobs at the same time.

Canada's Red McCarthy, a professional ice hockey player and eventually the co-inventor of ringette, engaged in barrel jumping (pyramid style) in 1933-1934 at the Black Forest Village in Chicago for the Century of Progress, World's Fair (a.k.a.

"Today, the possibility of barrel jumping becoming a Winter Olympic discipline is generally considered dead.

[10] Despite setbacks, barrel jumping still has its interested parties: In this Olympic season I'd like to talk a bit about a pure, backyard-bred, gauntlet-throwing event that many of my generation were convinced was once a part of the Winter Games.