An Olympic medal for Damon Hill in London

Not only does he have his name on the Formula One record books, with one world championship title, 22 wins, 20 pole positions, and 42 podiums, but Damon Hill will now also have his name on the record books of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The former Williams driver, now in his fifties, is nevertheless featured unknowingly since Damon Hill is none other than the name of Helen Langehanenberg’s horse, the German representative in the equestrian dressage competition. The rider and her mount finished fourth in the freestyle event and won the silver medal in the team event where Great Britain triumphed: “I don’t know why he has that name,” Helen Langehanenberg tells the Daily Express. “But the owners must love British athletes because when he had a foal, they named him Daley Thompson [Olympic decathlon champion in 1980 and 1984, ed.].”

However, other Formula One drivers have indeed one day had their name added to the Olympic record book. For instance, the Spaniard Alfonso de Portago, a former Ferrari driver who had stood on the second step of the podium at the 1956 British Grand Prix, narrowly missed the Olympic podium in the two-man bobsleigh event during the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Games.

A few years later, Davina Galica would experience her first Winter Olympics in 1964 in Innsbruck, where she competed in downhill and alpine slalom. Four years later, in Grenoble, and then in Sapporo in 1972, the British athlete was the captain of the women’s national Olympic skiing team before trying her luck in Formula One, unsuccessfully. In 1992, she made a return at the age of 48 during the Albertville Olympics for a speed skiing demonstration event, which had no future after the death of Swiss skier Nicolas Bochatay.

In 1960, Jackie Stewart could have also participated in the Olympic Games in the clay pigeon shooting event. However, the Scotsman narrowly failed to qualify, which he recently considered to be the greatest disappointment of his sporting career.