Ex-F1 driver Alex Zanardi dominates to win the road hand-cycling gold medal at the Rio Paralympics
NEARLY 15 years to the day he lost his legs in an auto racing crash in Germany, Italian athlete Alex Zanardi captured a gold medal at the Rio Paralympics.
NEARLY 15 years to the day he lost his legs in a racing crash in Germany, Italian athlete Alex Zanardi captured a gold medal at the Rio Paralympics.
Competing in the H5 class of the men’s road hand-cycling time trial, Zanardi won in a time of 28 minutes, 36.81 seconds, ahead of Stuart Tripp of Australia and Oscar Sanchez of the United States.
On Sept. 15, 2001, Zanardi was nearing the end of the American Memorial 500, a CART race at the Lausitzring oval in Germany, when his car was struck hard by another as he tried to merge back onto the track from pit row. Both of his legs were amputated above the knee.
“At the time, I was asked if I would ever step back in a racecar, but what was very important for me was to go into the bathroom and pee on my own, but I could not do that. I had to be helped. That was my No.1 priority,” Zanardi told reporters after his race Wednesday.
“Day by day I managed to regain control and strength, regain some confidence and concentrate on different things and here I am now.”
Two years on from his near-fatal crash, Zanardi returned to the Lausitzring, hopped into an IndyCar modified with hand controls and completed the remaining laps of the race in which he’d he’d suffered his injuries.
He would race for BMW in touring car racing and sports car racing, before turning his competitive attention to hand cycling. Along with victories in the major marathons around the world, he also won two golds and a silver at the 2012 Paralympics in London.
Racing at the Olympic Stadium in Rio held a special meaning for the 49-year-old Zanardi.
Just a stone’s throw down the beach from the finish line of the time trial is the former site of the Rio IndyCar oval - demolished to build venues for the Rio Games - where he secured his first IndyCar pole position in 1996.
“When it was announced that the Olympic Stadium was going to be built there I thought, ‘Wow, I’ve always loved that place and been super fast there,"’ Zanardi said.
“But for some reason or another I never managed to win a race, so maybe it is time to go back to Rio and win something and put that right.”
Isn't about the 144 digits, simply that's impossible to describe some kind of feelings
— alex zanardi (@lxznr) September 14, 2016
Thanks to YOU all, I mean it! pic.twitter.com/8KOjXT5izY
Originally published as Ex-F1 driver Alex Zanardi dominates to win the road hand-cycling gold medal at the Rio Paralympics
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