On this Day: August 13

Whilst the 2012 Olympic Games in London had turned off the lights for the last time on August 13, eight years beforehand the world's greatest spectacle was only just beginning in Athens. In-between the two hosts was a fencing success in Beijing, coinciding with two opposite events in the motorsport world. 1866 - Italian entrepreneur Giovanni Agnelli, most famous for being a founding father of automobile manufacturer Fiat, was born in Villar Perosa. In 1899 he helped to found Fabbrica Italiana di Automibili Torino - now Fiat - and a year later was the managing director of the company. Under his later stewardship of chairman, Fiat rose from 30th to third amongst most profitable Italian industrial companies. 2004 - A stunning opening ceremony officially declared the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece open. It marked the year that the Games finally returned to the country of its origin, and also the first time in eight years that all the countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance. Italy finished eighth in the medal table with 32 - including 10 golds. 2008 - Salvatore Sanzo defeated Zhu Jun of China in the men's foil fencing event at the Olympic Games, clinching a bronze medal for Italy. Sanzo also won a medal in the same sport four years previously in Sydney, bringing his Olympic tally to four when team events are also included. Italy won a total of seven fencing medals in Beijing. 2014 - Touring car and sports car racing legend Martino Finotto died after a long battle with cancer at the age of 80. The Italian drove a BMW coupe over the finish line in first in the European Touring Car Championship in 1979, the year after he won the Coppa Intereuropa with a Porsche. He flirted with the idea of joining Formula 1, but stuck to touring and sports racing and later managed his own team.

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