One of the best sports games for the Atari 2600 was Decathlon by Activision. It was c compilation of 10 track & field events and the object is to score the highest total of points for those 10 events either in single player mode or against another opponent. It was quite grueling workout and the 400m and 1500m would leave exhausted as you have to push the joystick from side to side as fast as you could in order to make the on screen runner move as fast as possible.
After Activision released Decathlon in 1983, they decided to have a contest. Players would send in photos of their highest scores and a handful of the top scorers would be flown to Los Angeles to compete in a tournament to coincide with the 1984 Olympics that were to be held in L.A. that year.
Activision received quite a few entries and everything seemed going well until they discovered a glitch in the game. A person could score higher than was deemed possible in the pole vault if the player rapidly hit the fire button while going up. Activision decided to cancel the contest and everyone who entered received a wireless controller as a consolation gift. A trip to the Olympics vanished for a few gifted players and a wireless Atari 2600 is all I have to remind me of what could have been.
