So far we have heard nothing about egg rolling becoming a part of the Olympics. But it can surely only be a matter of time.

As Easter approaches, now seems the perfect moment for adherents of this symbolic ancient activity involving decorated eggs and small grassy hillsides to give full voice to their Olympic ambitions.

In the wake of the recent Olympic Agenda 2020 recommendations making the Games more open to new events, sporting hopes now spring anew in spring.

Well all right. Egg rolling. Unlikely.

Children taking part in the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House in Washington D.C.
©Getty Images

But if it sounds far-fetched, it becomes less so when one considers the range of sports down the years which have sought to gain an enduring place within the Five-Rings Circus of the Games.

From 1900 to 1992, sports were allowed "demonstration" status in order to try and make a sufficiently good impression to earn official Olympic recognition. For some, such as baseball and canoeing, this worked a treat. For others - not so much.

Those 1900 Games in Paris would have made current International Olympic Committee members, imbued with the need to keep the Olympics to manageable proportions, come out in a rash.

The first Paris Olympics involved a total of 58,731 athletes participating in 34 overall sport categories -both the highest ever recorded in a Games. Hot-air ballooning accounted for 64 of those "athletes" - three of whom were women - and involved 18 events which were marked by judges on points such as distance, duration and elevation.

Initially there were high hopes of Olympic status. But the aspiration proved to be so much hot air.

Balloon racing was very popular around the start of the 20th Century - but hopes of Olympic inclusion after demonstration sport status at the 1900 Paris Games were soon deflated ©Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The 1900 Games demonstrations sports also included angling - or Angling For Olympic Inclusion, to give it its full title. From the point of view of the IOC's main criteria, namely that a sport or discipline is widely practised around the world and regularly involves countries and continents, angling should have been established along with athletics within the Olympic programme. But the IOC reaction? "Go fish.. "

Those Paris Games contained other intriguing aspirant sports. There was cannon shooting - or Cannon Shooting for the Olympics, to give it its full title. Misfired.

There was kite flying - an activity which brilliantly described its own Olympic intentions, but which dipped violently earthwards, never to rise again into the IOC consciousness.

As the years went by, this list of demonstration events became a little less eclectic, although there were still some notable exceptions.

Kite Flying was popular at the start of the 20th century - but the sport failed to take off in the Olympics following its only appearance at Paris in 1900 ©Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The 1924 Paris Olympics featured savate, a form of French boxing or kick boxing, and canne, another French martial art involving a kind of cane made from chestnut wood, with combatants wearing padded suits and fencing masks.

The Winter Games, too, have hosted demonstration events down the years, with the 1928 St Moritz Olympics featuring skijoring - that is, men being pulled along on skis by horses.

In more recent years, other sports have thrown their caps into the five rings, either in earnest or as a calculated means of gaining publicity.

Soon after the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, there was a groundswell of opinion within a growing number of International and National Federations that pole dancing - once smutty, was now officially sporty, and should have its place in the Games.

Japan's Mai Sato, effectively pole dancing world champion at the time having won the second International Pole Dancing Fitness Championships in Tokyo, told Agence France Presse: "I could definitely see pole dancing in the Olympics. I would love to win a gold medal."

Pole dancing -a possible Olympic sport? ©Getty Images

Two years ago there was much ado about the fact that darts wanted into the Olympics. The speculation had been stirred by a tweet from the former British Olympic Association Director of Elite Sport, Sir Clive Woodward, after the 2013 PDC World Championships in which he opined - "Darts definitely an Olympic sport."

But as any aspiring Olympic sport must first become recognised by the IOC before joining the programme, darts is not even on the board yet, never mind in a position to hit the bullseye of Games selection.

Around the same time, sheep-shearing was also touted for future Olympic inclusion. Perhaps by someone who was half cut. It was similarly unable to make the cut.

And bridge, which also felt it had a potentially winning Olympic hand a few years ago, has not announced any recent bids.

Earlier this year there was an announcement that cue sports were queueing up for Olympic inclusion, with World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association chairman Jason Ferguson commenting: "Snooker has grown at unprecedented levels in recent times and it has been our belief for some time that we should be given our chance on the ultimate global platform for sport.

"Today we strongly believe that cue sports has a very powerful case for inclusion in the Olympics in Tokyo. Snooker alone is watched by nearly half-a-billion people worldwide and played competitively in over 90 countries.

"The Olympics brings together the most skilled and dedicated athletes on the planet. There are few sports which can match the skill and concentration of snooker; our players are pushed to their limits in mind and dedication."

Baseball/softball and squash may look like the most realistic contenders to join the Olympic crew at the 2020 Tokyo Games, but in future years, who knows? Perhaps egg rolling might have a shout after all?

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. To follow him on Twitter click here.