The former Formula One driver took the Paralympic gold medal Wednesday in paracycling — a hand cycle powered by the arms — at the Brands Hatch race track, posting a time of 24 minutes 50.22 seconds.
The victory capped an incredible journey for the 45-year-old who almost died in a horrific accident at a 2001 CART race in Germany.
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Zanardi's journey to the Paralympics began at the American Memorial 500 on Sept. 15, 2001, at the Eurospeedway Lausitz in Germany — the only American-based series to go forward on the weekend after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Zanardi, a former two-time CART champion, had had a difficult season. He started 22nd in a field of 27, but the car was responding well. He was enjoying the drive, passing one car after another, until with 13 laps to go he was in the lead.
Zanardi went into his final pit stop and the crew chief waved him off urging him to "Go, go, go!"
But as he built up speed to get back into the race, the car spun out of control and he veered onto the track. Canadian driver Alex Tagliani, travelling at close to 320 km/h, could not avoid him. The reinforced carbon fibre cone of Tagliani's car sliced through the area beside Zanardi's left front wheel and cockpit, the weakest part of the vehicle.
On the track, Dr. Terry Trammel slipped and fell as he raced to the wreckage. He thought he had fallen in oil, but it was Zanardi's blood.
The crash had severed Zanardi's right leg at the knee and his left at the thigh some five inches above the knee. The driver's lower legs had disintegrated like those of land mine victims, said Dr. Steve Olvey, director of medical affairs for CART at the time. He had lost 70 per cent of his blood, his pelvis was fractured in five places and he had a lacerated liver.
But Zanardi was alive.
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Alex Zanardi wins gold at Paralympics
