Which historic sports event, in which location, do you wish you’d been able to attend? With 2022’s Winter Olympics opening in Beijing soon, I got thinking about three winter sport events I’d like to have attended – and their stunning locations I’d love to explore in future.

Magical Alpine memories

As a car-mad youngster in the 1970s, I followed motor sport avidly, not least the International Championship for Manufacturers that included the Monte Carlo Rally. Almost exactly 51 years ago, 1971’s event was fought out, between Alpine’s chic French-blue A110s, Lancia’s Fulvias with their unforgettable ‘angry bee’ exhausts, and works Porsches and Datsuns, on the Alpes-Maritimes’ snowy mountain roads.

Those now-legendary rear-engined coupés inspired a lifelong fascination for the little Dieppe-built road rockets. And Renault’s recent revival of the Alpine A110 coupé for road and track, plus Alpine’s participation in 2021’s F1 championship, got me recalling 1971’s rally.

Back then, I followed the Alpines’ wins through the pages of ‘Autosport’, ‘Motor Sport’ and BBC TV coverage. Oh, to have shivered atop the Col de Turini’s snow banks as formations of giant-killing Alpines power-slid past in a blaze of Cibié spotlights and tyre-thrown ice flurries. How about the Alpes-Maritimes for a future road trip? Check!

Eddie the Eagle’s ‘Cowtown’ is on my bucket list

Jump forward nearly two decades to Calgary’s 1988 Winter Olympics. Do you remember Jamaica’s (yes, really) bobsleigh team and Gloucestershire’s Eddie the Eagle capturing the world’s hearts during the ski jumping?

Despite many trips to Canada since 1979, my only Calgary experience remains a chilly December stopover – with the 747’s doors open – on Calgary airport’s runway en route to Vancouver! Visiting ‘Cowtown’, the eastern gateway to the Rockies – including a peek at the city’s Canada Olympic Park – remains on my travel bucket list.

Jamaica’s bob-sledders and 1993’s ‘Cool Runnings’ movie evoke memories of the first winter sport event recalled from my childhood – Nash and Dixon’s bobsleigh gold at 1964’s Innsbruck Winter Olympics. The closest I’ve been to Innsbruck since then (excluding ‘flying’ into Kranebitten Airport on a Boeing 737 simulator) is Salzburg!

Therefore, with its fabulous location, tasty Kasspatzln and stunning architecture, Innsbruck, the Austrian Tyrol’s capital, is another must-visit destination.

So where will memories of famous sport events lead you? Whether it’s the site of a legendary football final, an exotic Americas Cup harbour or a famous racing circuit, I wish you gold-medal-winning travel experiences when wanderlust calls!