52 replies to this topic

[D-Type]

On Facebook someone has posted that the following Grand Prix (he said F1) drivers have competed in the Olympics:
Prince Bira - Sailing
Alfonso De Portago - Bobsleigh
Ben Pon - Shooting
Divina Galica - Skiing
Robin Widdows - Bobsleigh
Roberto Mieres - Sailing
Bob Said - Bobsleigh
and

Alex Zanardi - Paralympics Cycling

 

Were there any more?  I have a vague recollection there's another
 

[Ray Bell]

Maybe Jackie Stewart in shooting?

 

Frank Beaurepaire won six medals swimming at five OIympics including a bronze at the 1924 Paris games...

 

I don't think he ever competed in cars but he certainly sponsored cars and races through his Beaurepaire's Tyre Service and later his Olympic Tyres brand.

[Collombin]

Damon Hill in Team Dressage 2012, silver medal.

Don't know if he was the front end or the back.

[Vitesse2]

Maybe Jackie Stewart in shooting?

Was in the frame for the 1960 Olympic team, but didn't qualify in the pre-Olympic trials.

[Vitesse2]

A couple of inter-war Bugatti racers - Norbert Sinner from Luxembourg (cycling, 1928) and Marquis Jean de Suarez d'Aulan (bobsleigh).

 

George Eyston just failed to qualify for the British Olympic sailing team in 1948.

[Jon Saltinstall]

Judging by the film footage I've seen of Jim Clark driving a Ford Lotus Cortina down the Cresta Run, I reckon he would have made the UK Bob sleigh team!

[Tim Murray]

I’m not sure if Freddy McEvoy counts as a Grand Prix driver. He raced voiturettes in the 1930s and finished 6th with Carlo Trossi in a Maserati 6CM at the 1936 Vanderbilt Cup. He also won several world bobsleigh championships and a bronze medal in the 4-man bob at the 1936 Winter Olympics. Antonio Brivio drove an Italian bob in this event.

http://www.todor66.c...eigh_Fours.html

However, there’s no mention in the above results of another Italian 4-man bob team which allegedly competed in the 1936 Winter Olympics comprising Achille Varzi, Piero Taruffi, Carlo Trossi and Franco Cortese. Did this legendary team ever exist?

[sabrejet]

Drop the "Grand Prix" garbage. Chris Hoy.

[MarkBisset]

I’m not sure if Freddy McEvoy counts as a Grand Prix driver. He raced voiturettes in the 1930s and finished 6th with Carlo Trossi in a Maserati 6CM at the 1936 Vanderbilt Cup. He also won several world bobsleigh championships and a bronze medal in the 4-man bob at the 1936 Winter Olympics. Antonio Brivio drove an Italian bob in this event.

http://www.todor66.c...eigh_Fours.html

However, there’s no mention in the above results of another Italian 4-man bob team which allegedly competed in the 1936 Winter Olympics comprising Achille Varzi, Piero Taruffi, Carlo Trossi and Franco Cortese. Did this legendary team ever exist?

You beat me to it regarding Fast Freddy McEvoy Tim...

He was the real deal as a bob-sledder for sure. I wrote a piece about him a few years back: https://primotipo.co...16/fast-freddy/

m

[BRG]

Damon Hill in Team Dressage 2012, silver medal.

Don't know if he was the front end or the back.

I know TNF is famed for the extent of its information set, but I didn't think it would include knowledge of dressage horses.

 

Or is there something you want to tell us?

[Collombin]

I know TNF is famed for the extent of its information set, but I didn't think it would include knowledge of dressage horses.

Or is there something you want to tell us?

No chance. I'll admit to following a few unusual and pointless sports, but sadly (happily?) my dressage knowledge only extends to having heard of the equine Damon Hill through previous posts on TNF.

[sabrejet]

Mentioned in a recent BBC documentary, I'd all-but forgotten that Daly Thompson had a brief dalliance with motorsport.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Jon Saltinstall
Judging by the film footage I've seen of Jim Clark driving a Ford Lotus Cortina down the Cresta Run, I reckon he would have made the UK Bob sleigh team!

Wasn't that at Cortina?

And maybe not in a Lotus Cortina?

[Sterzo]

Ann Moore won a silver medal for the British Equestrian team at the 1972 Olympics, then in 1976 raced a Formula Ford 2000 Elden. (John Webb was instrumental in arranging it). Autosport's "Catchpole" cartoon suggested that a show-jumper in car racing would justify the marshals being equipped with brown flags, just in case.

Edited by Sterzo, 29 July 2024 - 13:24.

[BRG]

Wasn't that at Cortina?

And maybe not in a Lotus Cortina?

Yes, it was to publicise the launch of the Ford Cortina, before the Lotus version appeared.

 

Fun fact - the Cresta Run is entirely made of snow and ice with no solid permanent foundations.  Every winter it is rebuilt from scratch by building up the banking from hard packed snow and then soaking it in water, to freeze overnight.  They use detailed plans drawn up 100 or more years ago to ensure it is the same each season.  I think a car might have torn it up too much!

[Disco Stu]

Dakar legend Nasser Al-Attiyah won bronze in skeet shooting in 2012

[Myhinpaa]

Yes, it was to publicise the launch of the Ford Cortina, before the Lotus version appeared.

 

 

From the Ford Heritage film archives : https://www.youtube....el=FordHeritage

[sabrejet]

Dakar legend Nasser Al-Attiyah won bronze in skeet shooting in 2012

 

Thanks for that: I had a rough memory of 'rally driver - shooting' but couldn't remember who it was. Unless there was another?

[Roryswood]

Jean Claude Jilly won three Alpineevents in the 1968 WINTER Olympics and went on to compete I LeMans in Porsche 910 , 911

[Roryswood]

Bob Wollek was due to represent France in the 1968 Winter Olympics in skiing but a training injury forced him to withdraw

[Dick Dastardly]

I've a feeling that skiing legend Franz Klammer [Gold medal winner in the Men's Downhill 1976] did some racing, not F1 though.

He attended fellow Austrian, Niki Lauda's, funeral  

Edited by Dick Dastardly, 29 July 2024 - 20:45.

[Collombin]

Indeed, other men's downhill Olympic champions who went racing included Henri Oreiller (1948) and Jean-Claude Killy (1968). Killy was a Targa Florio class winner.

Edited by Collombin, 29 July 2024 - 20:54.

[Myhinpaa]

I've a feeling that skiing legend Franz Klammer [Gold medal winner in the Men's Downhill 1976] did some racing, not F1 though.

He attended fellow Austrian, Niki Lauda's, funeral  

 

Klammer raced touring cars in DTM, ETCC, WTCC + at Bathurst 1985 - 88 mainly with Helmut Marko's RSM team

 

https://www.touringc...e=Franz KLAMMER

Edited by Myhinpaa, 29 July 2024 - 21:07.

[ensign14]

Warwick Wright managed to race in a Grand Prix AND the Olympic Games (in motorboating) in 1908.

[sabrejet]

Another brain fart: French skier who raced Chrysler Vipers at Le Mans. Or did I imagine that?

 

EDIT: Luc Alphand! So not Vipers but Corvettes. So close.

 

Anyway he participated in three winter games, beginning with Calgary 1988. His best result was a 4th place in the Downhill Combined that year. 

Edited by sabrejet, 29 July 2024 - 22:21.

[brucemoxon]

Australia's first-ever Winter Olympics gold medallist, Stephen Bradbury did a celebrity race and got the bug.

 

He then spent some of his own money racing in Formula Vee. I know, a long way from Formula One, but Australia is also a long way from proper Winter sports. 

 

'Doing a Bradbury' is now part of the Aussie lexicon - to persevere and triumph when those about (and ahead of) you fall over. 

 

Pretty nice bloke, too. 

 

 

 

BRM

[Roryswood]

Another Olympian Daley Thompson won gold in 1980 and 1984, raced a Peugeot in the UK after Athletics

[sabrejet]

Another Olympian Daley Thompson won gold in 1980 and 1984, raced a Peugeot in the UK after Athletics

 

Mentioned him up the page, though I'm sure I spelled his name incorrectly.

[AJCee]

No chance. I'll admit to following a few unusual and pointless sports, but sadly (happily?) my dressage knowledge only extends to having heard of the equine Damon Hill through previous posts on TNF.

At the back of my mind I seem to recall that there was another international dressage horse with a racing driver name that came after Damon Hill but I can’t remember it.
Not a close follower of dressage, but definitely am of eventing.
Don’t knock dressage, it’s really difficult, that’s why the rest of us jump fences.

[Nanni Dietrich]

Bruce Jenner (now Caitlyn Jenner), Decathlon gold medalist, Montreal 1976 had a respectable GT and sportscar career in the 1980. Fourth place in the 12 Hours of Sebring and fifth in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1986, sharing a Ford Mustang entered by Roush Racing, with Scott Pruett and Klaus Ludwig.

[Teapot]

As already mentioned, Luc Alphand won a Dakar and fared well in endurance racing after he had won the overall Skiing World Cup in 1997 (first skier ever to win the whole affair just taking part in downhill and Super-G races) and partecipating in a couple of Winter Olympics edition.

His arch-rival (and good friend) Kristian Ghedina, who took part in five (five!) editions of the Winter Olympics as downhill skier for Italy,  also had his motorsport career and competed in the 2006 Italian Superturismo series, Porsche Supercup and F3000 International Masters and into 2009 and 2010 Superstars series.

Edited by Teapot, 31 July 2024 - 09:53.

[Doug Nye]

And motor-cyclists of note with Olympian achievements?...

 

DCN

[john wood]

Keith Schellenberg competed in the two-man and the four-man Bobsleigh events at the 1956 Winter Olympics. He also competed in the men's singles in the luge at the 1964 Winter Olympics.

[BRG]

Jean Todt co-drive the winning Renault Alpine A110 of JP Nicholas on the Olympia Rally held in conjunction with the 1972 Munich Olympics

[dmj]

Ivan Šola is multiple Croatian motorcycling champion and three-times Olympics contestant in bobsleigh.

 

Bojan Križaj was the best Slovenian (then Yugoslavian) alpine skier in early Eighties, 4th at Olympics in 1980, multiple winner in World cup slalom events. He also drove a few rallies in Citroen Visa Mille Pistes during 1980s.

[racinggeek]

Indeed, other men's downhill Olympic champions who went racing included Henri Oreiller (1948) and Jean-Claude Killy (1968). Killy was a Targa Florio class winner.

 

Not downhill, but let's not leave out slalom gold medalist and multi-time World Cup champ Phil Mahre, who went sports car racing in America with his twin brother Steve (also a World Cup race winner). Their team representing Reno, Nevada, won championships in the American City Racing League -- teams of S2000 cars that represented various western US cities in the late 1980s-early '90s -- and I seem to recall Phil and Steve did lead the way home in some of those races. Also, Phil won the SCCA National Championship Runoffs in '91 in GT-1 with Steve placing third. Both continued in touring cars for a while and did fairly well.

[RobMk2a]

Reg Harris cyclist. 

[BRG]

Reg Harris cyclist. 

And?

 

Anyway, it reminds me of my favourite occurrence from the last Olympics in Tokyo, and it has a motorsport connection.  The women's cycling road race was seen as dead certainty Gold medal for the Netherlands.  They had a totally dominant team and the general expectation was that Annemiek van Vleuten would walk it. 

 

Come the race, and a small breakaway group of riders established a lead of over 5 minutes.  But gradually this was whittled away and one by one the breakaway riders were caught.  Except for one and with no race radio allowed at the Olympics, the Dutch team mistakenly thought they had the lead.  The race ended at the Fuji International Speedway (NB. motorsport connection!!), entering via an access road into the paddock and thence down the pitlane to complete a lap of the track to a finish at the regular start/finish line.  As the peloton came up the access road and the favourites made their attacks, Austrian rider Anna Keisenhofer was already starting on her lap of the track and took the victory and the Gold medal as the rest were racing down the pitlane.  Second place Silver medallist van Vleuten celebrated her "win" as she still didn't realise that the Gold was long gone.  There was much whinging about communications or lack of them after the race, but Keisenhofer won it fair and square. 

[sabrejet]

And?

 

Anyway, it reminds me of my favourite occurrence from the last Olympics in Tokyo, and it has a motorsport connection.  The women's cycling road race was seen as dead certainty Gold medal for the Netherlands.  They had a totally dominant team and the general expectation was that Annemiek van Vleuten would walk it. 

 

Come the race, and a small breakaway group of riders established a lead of over 5 minutes.  But gradually this was whittled away and one by one the breakaway riders were caught.  Except for one and with no race radio allowed at the Olympics, the Dutch team mistakenly thought they had the lead.  The race ended at the Fuji International Speedway (NB. motorsport connection!!), entering via an access road into the paddock and thence down the pitlane to complete a lap of the track to a finish at the regular start/finish line.  As the peloton came up the access road and the favourites made their attacks, Austrian rider Anna Keisenhofer was already starting on her lap of the track and took the victory and the Gold medal as the rest were racing down the pitlane.  Second place Silver medallist van Vleuten celebrated her "win" as she still didn't realise that the Gold was long gone.  There was much whinging about communications or lack of them after the race, but Keisenhofer won it fair and square. 

 

I was glad to see this referenced a number of times during the two time trials. The latter showed why I love the Olympics so much: in the women's event, a silver medal for Anna Henderson was so joyously received that it made me smile for a long time after. And in the men's, a taken-for-granted win for Filippo Ganna turned into a demonstration of the prodigious talent of Remco Evenepoel, despite the former missing the Tour de France to concentrate on the Olympics and Remco's awesome overall third (and best young rider) on a gruelling Tour. Both time trials featured multiple crashes but in each case the riders just got back on, bruised and bleeding, and got the job done. Contrast that with the disgraceful petulance, game-playing and fragility of supposed 'star' footballers.

 

Nevertheless, in real sports (thankfully no drifting in the Olympics yet), these unexpected wins always pepper the summer and winter games and it's what makes them so deeply enjoyable.

[DCapps]

Among others, Alfred Veighe (AKA, "Levegh") should be included as an Olympic driver.

 

Suggest that you read "Motorsport at the 1900 Paris Olympic Games," by Jeroen Heijmans, in Journal of Olympic History, Vol. 10 No. 3 (September 2002), 30-35.

[ensign14]

I would exclude the 1900 motoring events, given those Games were utterly hopeless and nobody knows what was really included.  Only motor event that really counts is motorboating in 1908 as that was specifically included, rather than retconning after the event.  Especially given that many of the chauffeurs were professional...

[DCapps]

I would exclude the 1900 motoring events, given those Games were utterly hopeless and nobody knows what was really included.  Only motor event that really counts is motorboating in 1908 as that was specifically included, rather than retconning after the event.  Especially given that many of the chauffeurs were professional...

 

Go ahead, be my guest, but like it or not,  the record is still the record. Until I read this article in the journal that focuses exclusively on the Olympics, I was quite puzzled by the inclusion of automobiles in the 1900 Paris Exhibition (re: "International Athletic sports and Contests at the Paris Exhibition of 1900," The Nineteen Hundred Paris Exhibition Illustrated, Vol. 8 No. 3 (15 March 1899); and the report of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Posts, and Telegraphs in 1901 on the "Exposition Universelle Internationale de 1900 a Paris" (two volumes) which addressed the events in Section VII, "Automobilisme." Not to mention the various reports in the automotive journals of the day. It is still something of a puzzle, but the events certainly did take place in conjunction with the Exposition or Olympics. Then again, I tend to keep Gordon Wood's worlds in mind regarding events from the developing years of motor sport: As Yogi Berra might put it, it is difficult to write history, especially about the past.

[Vitesse2]

And there was of course a motor rally associated with the 1936 Olympics, which Betty Haig rather spoiled for the hosts by winning it in a Singer.

 

https://riley-cars.co.uk/Paul-Abt.php

 

After Japan relinquished the 1940 Games in 1938, they were awarded at short notice to Helsinki. The Finns apparently intended holding a similar event.

[ensign14]

Go ahead, be my guest, but like it or not,  the record is still the record....but the events certainly did take place in conjunction with the Exposition or Olympics.

In conjunction with, yes; but part of?  The IOC does not count them as anything but demonstrations - similar with other outré events like live pigeon shooting or firefighting which were part of the same overall brouhaha.  But certainly that drivers were employed to drive cars would have been beyond de Coubertin's vision which still held sway.

[RobMk2a]

And?

https://forums.autos...-to-reg-harris/

https://en.wikipedia...wiki/Reg_Harris

[TMC44]

Some interweb site called Planetf1 has posted an article about Olympic drivers.

I wonder where they got the idea for that article from?

[D-Type]

Some interweb site called Planetf1 has posted an article about Olympic drivers.

I wonder where they got the idea for that article from?

Perhaps from the same Facebook site that I did

[Stephen W]

I don't think any of the above ever drove a Rochdale Olympic!

[Red Socks]

IIRC Betty Haig -HSCC founder amongst other things- won a medal for rallying the year it was an Olympic sport

[Vitesse2]

IIRC Betty Haig -HSCC founder amongst other things- won a medal for rallying the year it was an Olympic sport

See post #43 above. The rally was organised in conjunction with the 1936 Olympics and medals were awarded (pictures in the link). It was not an official Olympic event though and the medal designs are completely different.

 

There was another 'Olympia Rally' in 1972, again in Germany, won by Jean-Pierre Nicolas/Jean Todt in an Alpine A110 (see post #34).