My approach to inventing new Winter Olympic events is to create new opportunities for head-to-head competition, opening the door to new dramatic possibilities. For example, in Ski Jump Biathlon, one team jumps while the other team tries to shoot them (with paint pellets, of course) as they sail through the air. In Figure Curling, one team performs a free skate while the other team hurls granite stones down the ice in an attempt to foil that triple toe loop.

Japanese filmmaker Riichiro Mashima was also bitten by the sport-inventing bug. His creation: Ski Jumping Pairs. I’m going to have to check it out.