Ancient olympics chariot races
It was after continued objections from other sports, that, in 2016, a second round of stadium jumping was added for the top 20 individuals to decide the individual medals. Until recently, eventing was the only Olympic sport where both team and individual medals were decided in one competition. It was 1964 before women were involved in all three sports at Olympic level, which coincidentally, was the last time Tokyo hosted the Games. Dressage included a jumping phase, and eventing did not have dressage at all! Only men could compete, and they had to be existing or former officers in the armed forces to be eligible. Show jumping had complicated rules with different amounts of faults being awarded for hitting a fence with a front or a hind foot. The three disciplines as we know them today-dressage, eventing and show jumping-did not come about until 1912, although all three would be almost unrecognisable to 21st century aficionados. They appeared in 1900, where the disciplines included polo, as well as a high jump contest. When the Olympics were restarted in the modern era, 1896, horse sports were not initially included. They competed over a shortened course of six miles. They were more reminiscent of today’s horse racing, except that the riders had no stirrups and only a pad as a saddle. Riding events at the ancient Games came a little later.
#ANCIENT OLYMPICS CHARIOT RACES DRIVER#
The chariot driver was reliant on the generosity (or not!) of the owner for their reward.
Despite the risk they took to compete, it was the owners of the horse teams that were announced as the winners. The reward for putting your life on the line in ancient times? Questionable at best. A further remake was issued in 2016, but most of the chariot race footage was computer generated, with driving legend Boyd Exell providing the real life shots.
#ANCIENT OLYMPICS CHARIOT RACES MOVIE#
When the movie was remade in 1959, 75 mainly Lippizaners were specially trained for nearly four months, with the two human stars, Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd, spending almost as long learning to drive them.
In fact, even the recreation of the chariot race in the original 1925 version of the movie Ben Hur became notorious for the cruelty involved, allegedly costing up to 100 horses their lives. Accidents were frequent and fatalities of both human and horse were common. As extreme sport goes, the chariot races could not have been more dangerous.