The first woman ever to win at Olympia, Cynisca of Sparta, did it in the very event shown on this coin: the four-horse chariot race. The victor's wreath went to the owner of the team rather than the charioteer, so a king's daughter — Archidamus II was her father and Agesilaus II her brother — could triumph without competing in person. Her horses won in 396 and 392 BC, and she commemorated the victories with bronze statues at Olympia.

The Spanish 2000 pesetas KM# 914 renders a quadriga which, according to the official description of the issue, was modelled on an ancient coin. It shares the reverse with the emblem of the Barcelona Games and the M mintmark of Madrid, while the obverse carries King Juan Carlos I and Prince Felipe.

The 1992 ministerial order on the Olympic coinage set out four designs for this denomination — sprinters at the start, the chariot, tug of war and a wheelchair basketball player — with a ceiling of 180,000 proofs for each. Of the four, only the chariot is described as a revival of an antique model.

Proof strike: polished dies give a mirror field and frosted relief — a minting technique for collectors, not a measure of wear.