Rodeo

Rodeo is a traditional folk North American sport with influences from the history of Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) and American cowboys. Rodeo events include the rough stock events bull riding, bareback bronc riding, saddle bronc riding, the timed events steer wrestling, team roping, calf roping, the rarely seen steer roping, and women's barrel racing, breakaway roping[?], goat roping and pole bending. The participants include cowboys, cowgirls and also rodeo clowns or bull fighters. See also gymkhana[?] and polo.

The official sanctioning body of professional rodeo is the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). The Professional Bull Riders (PBR) is a recent organization dedicated to Bull Riding and puts on a number of events. There are also high school and college rodeos, amateur rodeos, and rodeos for women.

There are numerous rodeos held throughout the United States and Canada. Among the more prominent are the Calgary Stampede; Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming; the National Western Stock Show in Denver and the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada. The National Finals Rodeo championships, are held at the Thomas and Mack Center and feature the top 15 (in terms of earnings) competitors from each of the events.

Rodeo first appeared as an exhibition Olympic sport at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

See also: calf; cow; horse; steer