The Olympics has always been about celebrating the best in sports. We see the greatest athletes from around the globe gather for some amazing competition every four years. Sports like athletics, swimming, gymnastics, and cycling have been Olympic favorites for ages.
Even newer sports like skateboarding and BMX have found their place in the hearts of fans.
Football, both men’s and women’s, has been part of the Olympic family for many years. And the excitement keeps growing with sports like rugby, tennis, golf, and cricket joining in the next Olympics. Yet, something feels missing. Motorsport and especially Formula 1 has never been a part of this great event.
Quite interestingly, some of us still don't get why F1, which is one of the world's most popular sports is still not there in the Olympics. Well, it sounds like a really interesting topic to talk about and the answer is even more fascinating. The sports requiring mechanical power couldn't make it to the Games as the Olympic charter had a rule for that case.
This point was the biggest problem that the motorsports like F1 had to face.
Enrichment of relations with the FIA, the organization managing F1 was done by the International Olympic Committee in 2012. There were even certain activities promoting electric karting as a demonstration sport in the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games. The idea was to bring it into the 2024 Paris Olympics. But sadly, the invitation was not made.
Have you ever heard of the fact that motor racing was actually one of the sports during the 1900 Olympics in Paris? The races were initiated in Paris and ended in Toulouse. The races were not officially recorded by the IOC, even though the drivers received medals. Those were the times where life was very simple and different times were fascinating.
Most F1 drivers don't see their sport as suitable for the Olympics. For instance, Max Verstappen sees F1 as having too much to do with cars to be an Olympic sport. He doesn't believe that F1 is a part of the Olympic Games at all. And Lewis Hamilton, who's another one of the top drivers, also holds that view. Indeed, both of them feel that the sport's distinctiveness is a major obstacle in its fitting in with the spirit of the Olympics.
Even if go-kart races were performed using the same karts, Fernando Alonso mentions that it still wouldn't be the same. There's something in motorsports that just makes it a tough thing to include in the Olympics.
At a close look, it's plain to see that F1's exclusion from the Olympics isn't due to its losing out to other sports in terms of its popularity but rather its peculiar character.
