Berlin is a major sporting centre in Germany and Europe. In 2013 around 600.000 Berliners were registered in more than 2.300 amateur sports- and fitness clubs.[1]
Berlin has established a high-profile reputation as a host city of international sporting events.[2] The city was host to the 1936 Summer Olympics, the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final and is the venue for several professional sports clubs in Germany's top leagues.
The largest Olympic training centre in Germany is the Sportforum Hohenschönhausen, at 55 hectares one the largest sports and training centres in Europe. It is home to 19 sports clubs, a school and competitive sports centre, as well as a dormitory for athletes in training.
History
Friedrich Ludwig Jahn
Friedrich Ludwig Jahn known as Turnvater Jahn ( father of gymnastics) was born in 1778 and worked as an assistant teacher in Berlin. At Berlin's Hasenheide Friedrich Ludwig Jahn opened the first German gymnastics field ('Turnplatz'), or open-air gymnasium, in spring 1811. His activities were particularly pointed at the youth, with whom he went to the gym field in free afternoons. The German gymnastics, understood by Jahn as a whole of the physical exercises.
Jahn developed well-known gymnastic equipment, invented also new apparatuses. Particularly by his main writing "Die Deutsche Turnkunst" (1816) the apparatus gymnastics developed to an independent kind of sport, and so the gym activities were not only limited to simple physical exercises, which he quoted as following: "Going, running, jumping, throwing, carrying are free exercises, everywhere applicable, as free as fresh air."
With the national gymnastics festivals in Coburg in 1860, in Berlin in 1861 and in Leipzig in 1863, the memory of Jahn's ideas returned into the people's consciousness. The inscription at the gable of his house "Frisch, Frei, Fröhlich, Fromm", translated as 'fresh, free, happy, good", which originated in Jahn's time, became the basic idea of the German gymnastics movement.
The FIVB World Tour has chosen an inner-city site to present a beach volleyball Grand Slam several times after 2000.
The two main football clubs in Berlin are Hertha BSC and 1. FC Union Berlin. The oldest and most popular first division team in Berlin is Hertha BSC.[3] Hertha BSC represented Berlin as a founding member of the Bundesliga in 1963. 1. FC Union Berlin was founded in East Berlin in 1966.
The main basketball club in Berlin is Alba Berlin, which dominated the Basketball Bundesliga especially in the late 90s and early 2000s. Alba won eight German Championships, nine German Cups, three German Supercups, and the FIBA Korać Cup in 1995. With an average attendance of more than 10,000 fans per game in a season, it is also one of the most popular basketball clubs in Europe.
The city is also home to ASV Berlin, as well as the now-dissolved LSV Spandau, which won one German Championship in 1939.
Usain Bolt broke his sprint world record 2009 in Berlin.
The Berlin Marathon is one of the largest and most popular road races in the world. In 2008 alone the race had 40,827 enrolled starters from 107 countries, 35,913 official finishers and more than one million spectators.[12][13] Along with five other races, it forms the World Marathon Majors.
The annual Berlin-Marathon
The most marathon world records for men and women have been set at the Berlin course, which is known for its flat profile and even surface. The event is split over 2 days. About 8,000 additional inline skaters compete at the marathon course the Saturday before the running event. Power walkers, handbikers, wheelchair riders, and a children's marathon (4.2195 km) are also part of the marathon weekend, which is organised by SCC EVENTS.
In 1921, Germany's first motorsport track, the Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße ('Automobile traffic and training road'), short AVUS, was built in the south-west of Berlin. The first race took place on 24 September of the same year, with 300,000 spectators lining the roadside. The first German Grand Prix was held in 1926. The last race before World War II was in 1937. A first Formula One race was held in 1954, although not as part of the World Championship. The last German Grand Prix on the AVUS, as part of the World Championship, was held in 1959. After this, the AVUS was used for sports car and motorcycle racing until 1996.[17]
The Mellowpark in Köpenick is one of the biggest skate and BMX parks in Europe.[19]
Venues
Europasportpark
The traditional Sechstagerennen (Six Day Race) takes place in the Velodrom every January. Around 75,000 spectators attend this sport event every year. The Velodrom holds up to 12,000 people and is also one of the largest concert venues in the city.
Next to the venue, the Europasportpark SSE is one of the biggest swimming and diving pools in Europe, where both professional clubs and locals can swim their laps. The venue was host to many national and international competitions in all kind of swim sports from high diving to swimming the crawl. The 2014 European Aquatics Championships took place in the Europasportpark.
Both venues form a sports complex built in the course of the application of Berlin, for the 2000 Summer Olympics.
International sporting events
1936 Summer Olympics
The Olympic Flag flying over the Olympic Stadium, Berlin 1936
The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event that was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany.[20] Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain, on 26 April 1931, at the 29th IOC Session.
Germany built a new 100,000-seat track and field stadium, six gymnasiums, and many other smaller arenas. They also installed a closed-circuit television system and radio network that reached 41 countries, with many other forms of expensive high-tech electronic equipment.[21] Filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, was commissioned by the German Olympic Committee to film the Games.[21] Her film, titled Olympia, pioneered many of the techniques now common in the filming of sports.
The Olympic village was located at Elstal in Wustermark on the western edge of Berlin. The site, which was 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the centre of the city, consisted of one to two-floor dormitories, dining areas, a swimming pool, and training facilities.
Total ticket revenues were 7.5 million Reichsmark, generating a profit of over one million marks. The official budget did not include outlays by the city of Berlin (which issued an itemized report detailing its costs of 16.5 million marks) or outlays of the German national government.[22]
Group A at the 1974 FIFA World Cup featured three matches at Berlin's Olympic Stadium, all involving Chile, against West Germany, East Germany and Australia. West Germany won 1-0, although the other matches were draws. The infamous match between the two German teams, however, was played in Hamburg.
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