Tug of war, what-if all-star teams with LeBron James, Aaron Judge, Serena Williams, Lionel Messi and more

The opening ceremonies of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo would have begun this week. Instead, because of the coronavirus pandemic, they are postponed until 2021.

One sport that won’t be at the Olympics: tug of war. It once was. That’s right: When legendary American athlete Jim Thorpe traveled to Stockholm for the 1912 Games, he did so with an American team of tug-of-warriors.

The 1920 Games in Antwerp, Belgium, were the last time tug of war was an Olympic sport. England’s teams, often filled with police officers, were the…