The great thing about the Olympics is that it's the two weeks of the sporting year when the world puts everything else to one side and gets deep into what the sporting world can offer.

The unsung heroes, the toilers and the truly dedicated get their place in the sun, as do some disciplines that are neglected the rest of the time.

For instance...

Modern Pentathlon - mix a bunch of weird sports and do them all

What's better than fencing, swimming, horse riding, shooting and running? Doing all of them back-to-back of course.

The bizarre combination of events was supposedly invented by the founder of the modern Olympics Pierre de Coubertin and is intended to replicate the perfect skill set of an early 20th century army officer.

The finale of the event is particularly exciting as the performances of athletes across the first three events are turned into time penalties, with the leading athlete embarking on the combined run and shoot first, with everyone else following at intervals.

This means that, unlike the confusing ends to the decathlon and heptathlon, the winner will be the first person across the line.

There's Team GB interest too. Can Preston's Samantha Murray upgrade her London 2012 silver to gold?

3,000m Steeplechase - an event horses would be happy to tackle

Tucked away among the more conventional athletics events, there's this.

A punishing 3km run, with the added obstacles (literally) of 28 hurdles and a water jump that must be overcome seven times.

It is literally an event for horses, but with people.

Of course the main interest here is the "will they? won't they?" excitement of waiting to see if anyone gets really soaked after misjudging the water jump, but there's also the fun of seeing if a non-Kenyan will win.

They've taken every men's steeplechase gold since 1984.

Dressage - we don't want to call it 'horse dancing' but that's pretty much what it is

Man (or woman) and beast, working in perfect harmony.

Years of training, months of preparation and, well, the end result looks sort of silly to an outsider.

Especially since it's the only Olympic sport where top hats are compulsory.

But dressage also gives us the potential for outrage that only an Olympic sport entirely dependant on a panel of judges can stoke.

If the judging goes badly for Team GB's reigning champion Charlotte Dujardin and her horse Valegro, expect yourself to be out of your seat shouting at the TV about the judges' inability to recognise a good passage when they see it. Fools.

Elimination race - The Hunger Games... on bikes

Buried within the omnium multi-race event is this beauty, probably the most intense, chaotic event you'll see at the games.

Eighteen cyclists take to the track and every two laps the last one is eliminated.

The longer it goes on, the more tense and tactical it gets, until one cyclist remains.

Team GB's Laura Trott's win in this proved crucial to her taking Omnium gold in London, and she'll be lining up this year too.

Handball - seven-a-side football... with hands

If you've ever imagined what would happen if we combined football, basketball and netball then...you're in luck.

Sadly, Britain's team of plucky underdogs have gone, but this is an underrated event outside of its European heartlands.

Any sport where the last Olympic final can legitimately be described as a "43 goal thriller" has to be worth a look, anyway.