![olympic chariot races olympic chariot races](http://www.dallasequestriancenter.com/wp-content/uploads/chariotsb.jpg)
#Olympic chariot races drivers#
The home straight at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya even served as the start and finish line for the road team time trial cycling event at the games, which was won by Germany.Ī handful of Formula 1 drivers have competed in the Olympics over the years, most notably Alex Zanardi, who made one of the most inspirational sporting comebacks of all time. The closest Formula 1 has come since then was when Formula 1 visited Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the 1991 “Olympic Games Grand Prix.” The first Spanish Grand Prix at the new circuit outside Barcelona was staged just three months before the city hosted the Summer Olympics. Though the competitors in the 14 events for cars, taxis, delivery vans, trucks and motorbikes didn’t receive medals, it remains the only time in the modern era that motorsport was part of the Olympics.
![olympic chariot races olympic chariot races](http://medias.photodeck.com/5a1c6d18-3a2e-11e0-8df7-4d92141bcedd/000065_xgaplus.jpg)
With the skilled and fearless drivers becoming some of the highest-paid celebrities of the day, it’s not hard to see the parallels with the development of modern motorsport.įast forward to the 1900 Olympics Games in Paris, where motor racing events were held as part of the World’s Fair. Added to the Olympic Games in 680BC and popular until the fall of Rome, the sport involved up to 12 chariots going head to head over several laps at specially built stadiums (hippodromes) in front of huge crowds. The lineage of motorsport can be traced back to Ancient Greece, where the fast and dangerous sport of chariot racing originated. Formula 1 is unlikely to ever become an Olympic sport, but there are plenty of links between two of the world’s most popular global sporting events.