Ballooning at the 1900 Summer Olympics

[1][2] The aeronautical pioneer Henry de La Vaulx set two world records for distance and duration piloting a balloon flight.

Nearly all events at the 1900 Games that satisfied four retrospective selection criteria — restricted to amateurs, open to all nations, open to all competitors and without handicapping — are now regarded as Olympic events.

[3] Although the ballooning events listed below met these criteria, they have generally not been classified as official.

[4] Hot air balloons for manned flight were invented in 1783, but requiring fuel, they proved less practical than the hydrogen balloons that followed almost immediately.

In order to land some lifting gas must be vented through a valve.

Aerial view of the 1900 Olympic ballooning venue at Le Parc d'aerostation, Paris
1900 Olympic ballooning event at Le Parc d'aerostation, Paris
Map of flights in the race for overall duration and distance (9 October 1900). The team of Henry de la Vaulx and Georges Castillon de Saint-Victor set world records for distance (1925 km, Paris to Kyiv) and duration (nearly 36 hours). [ 5 ]