Sport in Austria

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There has been talk of sport in Austria since the second half of the 19th century with the establishment of individual sports clubs . Towards the end of the 19th century, the formation of sports associations as an organizational framework is evident. These associations were to a large extent politically organized and very different from one another. With the beginning of the Austro-Fascist corporate state , the sports associations in the Austrian gymnastics and sports front were brought into line ; all other associations were banned. After the "Anschluss" of Austria , the Austrian sports associations were incorporated as Gau 17 in the " National Socialist German Reich Association for Physical Exercise ". Even after the Second World War , the sports associations retained a clear affinity for political groups, but in contrast to the First Republic, they were willing to cooperate. B. for participation in Austrian championships or the Olympic Games.

History of sports organizations in Austria

The "First Viennese Gymnastics Club" was founded in 1861, followed by the gymnastics clubs in Bozen and Hall in 1862 , which merged in 1874 to form the Turngau Tirol . While athletes were still closely related to the German associations in the 19th century, this picture varied over the next few decades.

In the beginning, the formation of sports organizations in Germany and Austria was marked by great turmoil. The first establishment related to the establishment of the German Gymnastics Association (DT), which was carried out in Weimar in 1868 with the substantial contribution of the Krems gymnast Hans Stingl (1832–1893 ). All German national and liberal associations from Austria could join this as "Turnkreis 15". However, internal anti-clerical (“ Lot of Rome ”) and anti-Semitic tensions resulted in splits in several directions. In Austria in 1887 the “First Wiener Turnverein 1861” introduced by Franz Xaver Kießling (1859–1940) an Aryan paragraph , which led to the exclusion of 480 Jews and 20 other non-Germans; immediately afterwards they founded the “German-Austrian Turnverein” (DTZ), which later became a member of the Makkabi World Association (founded in 1921). In addition, there were also Czech sports associations in Vienna (1866: “Sokol”, 1899: “Arbeiterturnverein”, 1909: “Orel”), as well as a large number of sports clubs that did not belong to any association but that only indulged in their hobby in a local setting wanted to.

Worker sport

In 1892 the "Workers' Gymnastics and Sports Movement" was formed on the initiative of the Social Democrats . According to the idea of ​​building proletarian parallel institutions to all bourgeois associations, the workers' tourist association "Die Naturfreunde " ( Friends of Nature ) and in 1893 a " workers' cycling association" were established alongside the proletarian gymnasts , all of which had their roots in the workers' movement of the 19th century. The goals of workers' sport were the liberation of the working class, the creation of an independent socialist culture of movement, the training of physically strong class fighters, against the one-sided performance principle (record addiction, overrating the competition), collective performance was more important than individual performance (e.g. names of winners should not be mentioned and no shirt numbers are worn for football). On May 19, 1919, the "Association of the Workers' and Soldiers' Sports Association of Austria" (VAS) and in October 1924 the "Workers' Union for Sport and Physical Culture" ( ASKÖ ) were founded with clearly class struggle objectives.

A militarization of workers 'sport began by the Republican Protection Association , which recruited some of its members from the workers' athletes. From 1925 there were military gymnastics departments in the workers 'gymnasts and workers' rifle clubs (order exercises, hand grenade throwing, map reading, small caliber shooting, obstacle gymnastics). Around 1930 the sports in the ASKÖ included weight training, shooting and military sports. These exercises continued underground after the Republican Protection Association was banned on May 30, 1933 . Since 2008 Austria has provided the chairman of international workers' sport ( Confédération Sportive Internationale du Travail (CSIT))

Citizen Sports

Around 1900, under the leadership of Anton Frey (1871–1916), a gymnastics club was formed that wanted to combine Christianity, national sentiments and gymnastics; these merged in 1914 to form the “Reich Association of Christian-German Gymnastics Association of Austria”; Confession to the German nationality and Christian worldview were prerequisites for membership, later these principles were interpreted in terms of German-Aryan descent.

The Christian German Gymnastics Association Austria (CDTÖ) was re-established in St. Pölten in 1921. The roots were in the gymnastics movement, but also in ideological demarcation from the DTB. Although the Catholic Church was against sport, 50% of the Dietwarte are priests. This association is also characterized by racial anti-Semitism, anti-Marxism and anti-parliamentarianism and carried out "military gymnastics".

German national sports movement

The "Deutsche Turner-Bund (DTB)" was constituted in Austria on September 7, 1919. Participants could only "(be) members of Germanic tribes ... and German national sentiments must not be impaired." The DTB was anti-parliamentary, anti-Marxist, anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic and characterized by the idea of ​​attachment to Germany. The executive board and members were close to National Socialism. After the National Socialist hand grenade attack in Krems on June 19, 1933 on members of the Christian-German gymnasts who had just returned from a weapons exercise, the DTB, like all other Nazi organizations in Austria, was dissolved.

Non-political sport in the First Republic

In addition to these politically oriented clubs, there was the “Austrian Central Association for Common Sports Interests” (renamed “Main Association for Physical Sports” in 1919), which also performed the function of a National Olympic Committee. Formally, this association saw itself as apolitical and as a sponsor of many sports. But neither CDTÖ, DTB nor ASKÖ joined this association. Rather, these three blocks formed self-contained groups that did not participate in joint competitions (i.e. there were no Austrian championships) and, for different ideological reasons, did not participate in the Olympic Games .

Sport in the Austro-Fascist corporate state and the time of National Socialism

In the Austro-Fascist corporate state (1934–1938), the social democratic sports clubs (ASKÖ) were banned, the activities of the National Socialist gymnastics and sports associations had already come to a standstill in 1933. The Christian-German gymnastics community now became the determining element. The Austrian Gymnastics and Sports Front took on the task of "making young people defensive" as part of the Fatherland Front . Sports leader was Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg .

Christian-German gymnasts were partially accepted as military gymnasts as "assistants" in the protection corps and performed services in property protection or in defending against the National Socialists. Such military trains were formed for financial reasons and supplemented the Austrian executive without being accepted into the status of civil servants.

After the "Anschluss", the remaining sports associations were incorporated into the "National Socialist German Reich Association for Physical Exercise" as Gau 17.

Restart after the Second World War

At the end of the war, an “appeal to all Austrian athletes” to set up a central office for Austrian sports met with no response. The ASKÖ (since 1971 “Working Group for Sport and Physical Culture in Austria”) continued the pre-war tradition, but was now ready to take part in all sporting events, including those of the civic associations. The Christian-Catholic clubs came together in the “Austrian Gymnastics and Sports UNION” (today SPORTUNION Austria) . The “General Sports Association of Austria” (ASVÖ) was established as the third umbrella organization . In 1952, the “ Austrian Gymnastics Association ” was formed in Wels as the successor to the German national gymnastics camp, but this time with a clear commitment to Austrian statehood. The central platform for the Austrian sports system has been the "Austrian Federal Sports Organization" (BSO) since 1969 .

Austria as an organizer of sporting events

Austria is considered to be an extremely experienced organizer of major international sports events. The largest - the Olympic Games - have so far been held twice in the Alpine republic. In 1964 and 1976 - as a substitute for Denver  - Innsbruck and Seefeld hosted winter games . With the Winter Youth Games , which took place in January 2012, Innsbruck is the first city in the world where the Olympic flame was lit for the third time. Two Winter Universiades , namely 1968 and 2005, also took place in Innsbruck. Other Austrian applications for the Olympic Winter Games - Innsbruck 1960, Graz 2002, Klagenfurt 2006 and Salzburg 2010 and 2014 - and the Summer Games - Vienna 1964 - failed.

Austria was also the venue for the 2008 European Football Championship together with Switzerland . Three group games each took place in Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium , in Salzburg's Red Bull Arena , in Klagenfurt's Wörthersee Stadium and in Innsbruck's Tivoli-Neu . In addition to the group games, two quarter-finals, a semi-final and the final, in which Spain crowned themselves European champions with a 1-0 win over Germany , took place in Vienna . The remaining games were played in Switzerland.

The Ernst Happel Stadium was the organizer of finals in European club football even before the EURO final. The final of the European Champion's Cup was held three times in the federal capital. In 1964 Inter Milan beat Real Madrid , in 1987 FC Porto defeated FC Bayern Munich and in 1990 AC Milan got the upper hand against Benfica Lisbon . In 1995 a final of the successor competition, the UEFA Champions League , took place in Vienna's Prater . Ajax Amsterdam defeated AC Milan 1-0. In the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1970, Manchester City prevailed. 1994 gave Austria Salzburg as UEFA Cup finalist for the first leg into Happel Stadium, since it was significantly larger than their own Lehener Stadium . Like later the second leg, Salzburg lost 1-0 against Inter Milan.

The final of the American Football World Cup 2011 , which the USA team won against Canada, and the other placement games were also played in Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium. The preliminary round matches of this World Cup took place in the Graz UPC Arena and at Innsbruck Tivoli.

In addition to soccer and football tournaments, other ball sport finals have also taken place in Austria in recent years. In 2011, the European men's volleyball championship was organized jointly with the Czech Republic . On the Austrian side, the venues were the Olympiahalle Innsbruck and the Wiener Stadthalle , where the finals were also played. In these two halls and the indoor area , the TipsArena in Linz and the Arena Nova in Wiener Neustadt one year was already before the 2010 European Men's Handball Championship held. Vienna was also the venue for the final here. In August 2011 Austria was also the organizer of the men's fistball world championship . The game was played in Vienna, Salzburg, Linz, Kremsmünster and Pasching , where the final round was held in the Waldstadion . In February 2007 the indoor hockey world championship took place in the Wiener Stadthalle .

In addition to major global sporting events, events in the winter sports nation of Austria especially enjoy great media attention and a large number of visitors. In February 2013, for the ninth time, the Alpine World Ski Championships took place in the Alpine republic. Most recently, Schladming , where the 2013 World Championships also took place, were the organizers together with Haus im Ennstal 1982 , Saalbach-Hinterglemm 1991 and St. Anton am Arlberg 2001 . Nordic World Ski Championships medals have already been awarded five times - most recently in Seefeld in 1985 and in Ramsau am Dachstein in 1999 . A ski flying world championship took place on the Kulm for the fourth time in 2006 . The fourth Snowboard World Championships in Austria took place in 2015 on Kreischberg , where the Freestyle Skiing World Championships were held for the second time in Austria. Austria has already hosted biathlon world championships seven times , most recently in 2017 in Hochfilzen . Luge World Championships have been held in Austria just as often , the last time in Igls in 2017 .

The men's ice hockey world champion has also been crowned six times in Austria to date. In addition to the 1964 Olympic ice hockey tournament in Innsbruck, which is also counted as a world championship, Vienna was the organizer four times. The last World Cup in 2005 was jointly organized by Vienna and Innsbruck. The venues were the Wiener Stadthalle and the Innsbruck Olympic Hall.

In addition to the world championships, there are other winter sports events that are great crowd pullers and are usually held annually. The Four Hills Tournament of ski jumpers takes place every year at the turn of the year . The Innsbruck Bergiselschanze and the Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze in Bischofshofen form the Austrian part of the German-Austrian event, which will be held for the 60th time in 2011/12 . Traditionally in January, men's ski races have taken place on the Kitzbühel Hahnenkamm , the Hahnenkamm races, since the 1930s . The current program includes a Super-G as well as a descent and a slalom, which form the classic Hahnenkamm combination. The so-called "Night Race", a floodlit slalom on the Schladminger Planai, has been a fixed point in the Alpine Ski World Cup since the 1990s . It has taken place on the Tuesday after the Hahnenkamm race since 2001 and attracts around 50,000 spectators to the race track every year. Many other World Cup competitions in different winter sports take place in Austria every year and usually enjoy a similarly large audience.

Other annual sporting events in Austria include the Vienna City Marathon , the Beach Volleyball Grand Slam tournament and the Ironman Austria in Klagenfurt, the Austria cycling tour and the Red Bulls Salute ice hockey tournament . From 1970 to 1987 and from 1997 to 2003 took place on Austria ring , later in the A1-Ring of the Grand Prix of Austria instead.

Other important sporting events in recent years include the 2008 World Rowing Championships in Ottensheim , the 2006 Road Cycling World Championships in Salzburg, the 2002 Mountain Bike World Championships in Kaprun , the 2001 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Klagenfurt, the 2010 European Judo Championships , the Short Track World Championships 2009 and Short Track European Swimming Championships 2004 in the Wiener Stadthalle as well as the European Athletics Indoor Championships 2002 in the Vienna Ferry Dusika Stadium .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reinhard Krammer: Austria: New Times are with us. Arnd Krüger & James Riordan (Eds.) (1996). The Story of Worker Sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, pp. 81-96. ISBN 978-0873228749
  2. Hartmut Becker: Anti-Semitism in the German Turnerschaft. St. Augustin: Richarz 1990.