The Wolverhampton Olympique was an individual motorcycle speedway event that was hosted annually in the Midlands.
History The event was first run in October 1966 by the Newcastle Diamonds club at their home venue Brough Park. At the time both Newcastle Diamonds and Wolverhampton Wolves were owned by the same promoter Mike Parker. In 1969, Parker sold his interest in Newcastle Diamonds and a number of his assets were transferred to Wolverhampton Wolves, two of which were the Olympique event and the licence of speedway rider Ole Olsen.
With the closure of Wolverhampton in 1980 the meeting was transferred to Birmingham but when Wolves re-opened in 1984 Peter Adams brought it back to Monmore Green Stadium in Wolverhampton.
The last Olympique was held in 2023, because Monmore Green's owners Entain announced that the venue would only be used by greyhound racing during 2024. It was won by Australian Zach Cook.
Past winners YearVenueFirstSecondThird 1966Brough Park Barry Briggs Peter Kelly Nigel Boocock 1967Brough Park Anders Michanek Ivan Mauger Nigel Boocock 1968Brough ParkNot staged 1969Brough ParkNot staged 1970Monmore Green Stadium Ole Olsen Ivan Mauger Ronnie Moore 1971Monmore Green Stadium Ole Olsen Barry Briggs Bernt Persson 1972Monmore Green Stadium Ole Olsen Terry Betts Ivan Mauger 1973Monmore Green Stadium Ole Olsen Peter Collins Chris Pusey 1974Monmore Green Stadium Ole Olsen Peter Collins Terry Betts 1975Monmore Green Stadium Ole Olsen Billy Sanders Sören Sjösten 1976Monmore Green Stadium Peter Collins Ole Olsen Chris Morton 1977Monmore Green Stadium Billy Sanders Gordon Kennett Dave Jessup 1978Monmore Green Stadium Gordon Kennett Ole Olsen Ila Teromaa 1979Monmore Green Stadium Phil Crump Bruce Penhall Jan Andersson 1980Monmore Green Stadium Les Collins Bobby Schwartz Tommy Knudsen 1981Monmore Green Stadium Mitch Shirra Hans Nielsen Dave Jessup 1982Monmore Green Stadium Hans Nielsen Alan Grahame Tommy Knudsen 1983Birchfield Ladbroke StadiumNot staged 1984Monmore Green Stadium Hans Nielsen Shawn Moran Preben Eriksen 1985Monmore Green StadiumNot staged 1986Monmore Green StadiumNot staged 1987Monmore Green Stadium Sam Ermolenko Hans Nielsen Jan O Pedersen 1988Monmore Green Stadium Hans Nielsen Sam Ermolenko Mike Faria 1989Monmore Green Stadium Jan O Pedersen Ronnie Correy Hans Nielsen 1990Monmore Green Stadium Ronnie Correy Billy Hamill John Jørgensen 1991Monmore Green Stadium Greg Hancock Ronnie Correy Sam Ermolenko 1992Monmore Green Stadium Ronnie Correy Sam Ermolenko Gary Havelock 1993Monmore Green Stadium Joe Screen Sam Ermolenko Peter Karlsson 1994Monmore Green Stadium Jason Crump Peter Karlsson Joe Screen 1995Monmore Green Stadium Greg Hancock Peter Karlsson Joe Screen 1996Monmore Green StadiumNot staged 1997Monmore Green Stadium Mikael Karlsson Sam Ermolenko Jesper B Jensen 1998Monmore Green Stadium Greg Hancock Mark Loram Peter Karlsson 1999Monmore Green Stadium Peter Karlsson Joe Screen Greg Hancock 2000Monmore Green Stadium Peter Karlsson Nicki Pedersen Jesper B. Jensen 2001Monmore Green Stadium Mikael Karlsson Sam Ermolenko Jason Crump 2002Monmore Green Stadium Mikael Karlsson Peter Karlsson Paul Hurry 2003Monmore Green Stadium Mikael Max Peter Karlsson Leigh Adams 2004Monmore Green Stadium David Howe Peter Karlsson Scott Nicholls 2005Monmore Green Stadium Freddie Lindgren Hans Andersen Travis McGowan 2006Monmore Green Stadium Peter Karlsson Freddie Lindgren Theo Pijper 2007Monmore Green Stadium Freddie Lindgren Scott Nicholls Chris Harris 2008Monmore Green StadiumPostponed 2009Monmore Green Stadium Freddie Lindgren Chris Harris Scott Nicholls 2010Monmore Green Stadium Freddie Lindgren Chris Harris Scott Nicholls 2011Monmore Green Stadium Freddie Lindgren Scott Nicholls Chris Harris 2012 Monmore Green Stadium Scott Nicholls Ricky Wells Danny King 2013Monmore Green StadiumPostponed 2014Monmore Green StadiumPostponed 2015Monmore Green Stadium Freddie Lindgren Ricky Wells Chris Harris 2016Monmore Green Stadium Jacob Thorssell Freddie Lindgren Chris Harris 2017Monmore Green StadiumNot staged 2018Monmore Green Stadium Chris Harris Kyle Howarth Ricky Wells 2019Monmore Green StadiumNot staged 2020Monmore Green StadiumNot staged due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021Monmore Green Stadium Scott Nicholls Nick Morris Rory Schlein 2022Monmore Green Stadium Nick Morris Tom Brennan Luke Becker 2023Monmore Green Stadium Zach Cook Rory Schlein Tom Brennan
Results by Rider CountryDriverFirstSecondThirdPodium Olsen, Ole6208 Lindgren, Freddie6208 Karlsson (Max), Mikael4004 Karlsson, Peter35210 Nielsen, Hans3216 Hancock, Greg3014 Nicholls, Scott2237 Correy, Ronnie2204 Ermolenko, Sam1517 Harris, Chris1247 Collins, Peter1203 Morris, Nick1102 Briggs, Barry1102 Sanders, Billy1102 Kennett, Gordon1102 Pedersen, Jan O1012 Crump, Jason1012 Michanek, Anders1001 Crump, Phil1001 Collins, Les1001 Shirra, Mitch1001 Howe, David1001 Thorssell, Jacob1001 Cook, Zach1001
References
Much of this information has been taken from the Wolverhampton Wolves Olympique programme dated 11 October 2016.