Poland's sports include almost all sporting disciplines, in particular: football, volleyball, motorcycle speedway, ski jumping, track and field, American football, handball, basketball, tennis, and combat sport. The first Polish Formula One driver, Robert Kubica, has brought awareness of Formula One Racing to Poland. Volleyball is one of the country's most popular sports, with a rich history of international competition. Poland has made a distinctive mark in motorcycle speedway racing thanks to Tomasz Gollob, Jaroslaw Hampel, and Rune Holta. Speedway is very popular in Poland. They won the world cup (2014), and the Polish Extraleague has the highest average attendances for any sport in Poland. The Polish mountains are an ideal venue for hiking, skiing and mountain biking and attract millions of tourists every year from all over the world. Cross country skiing and ski jumping are popular TV sports, gathering 4–5 million viewers each competition, with Justyna Kowalczyk, Dawid Kubacki, Adam Małysz and Kamil Stoch as the main attractions. Baltic beaches and resorts are popular locations for fishing, canoeing, kayaking and a broad-range of other water-themed sports.
The Czechoslovakia national football team represented Czechoslovakia in men's international football from 1920 to 1993. The team was controlled by the Czechoslovak Football Association, and the team qualified for eight World Cups and three European Championships. It had two runner-up finishes in World Cups, in 1934 and 1962, and won the European Championship in the 1976 tournament.
EuroBasket Women is a biennial international women's basketball competition held between the nations of FIBA Europe for women's national teams. EuroBasket Women is also used as a qualifying tournament for the FIBA Women's World Cup and also the Olympic Games.
The Czechoslovakia national basketball team represented Czechoslovakia in international basketball from 1932 to 1992. After the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia set up their own national teams. The present-day Czech Republic national basketball team is recognized as the successor to the Czechoslovak team.
Ondrej Nepela was a Slovak figure skater who represented Czechoslovakia. He was the 1972 Olympic champion, a three-time World champion (1971–73), and a five-time European champion (1969–73). Later in his career, he performed professionally and became a coach.
Paweł Zagumny(listen) is a Polish former professional volleyball player. He was a member of the Poland national team in 1996–2014. A participant at the Olympic Games, the 2014 World Champion, 2012 World League winner, and the 2009 European Champion. A former president of the Polish Volleyball League.
Jarosław "Jarek" Hampel is a motorcycle speedway rider from Poland. He is a six times World Cup winner.
Tomáš Verner is a former Czech figure skater. He is the 2008 European champion, a medalist at two other European Championships, and a ten-time Czech national champion. He has won six senior Grand Prix medals, including the 2010 Cup of Russia title.
Karol "Karcsi" Emil Divín was a Slovak figure skater who represented Czechoslovakia. He was the 1960 Olympic silver medalist, a two-time European champion (1958–59), and a two-time World medalist.
Grzegorz Walasek(listen) is a Polish motorcycle speedway rider who has ridden for the Polish national team and has also competed in the Speedway Grand Prix series.
Emil Damirovich Sayfutdinov is a motorcycle speedway rider from Russia. He is a member of the Russia national speedway team. He is a three times World team champion, twice World Junior champion and a two-time winner of the European Championships in 2014 and 2015.
Morten Risager is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Denmark.
Filip Šitera is a former international motorcycle speedway rider. He represented Czech Republic at Under-21 level.
Sebastian Ułamek is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Poland. He was a European individual Champion.
The Artistic Gymnastics World Championships are the world championships for artistic gymnastics governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). The first edition of the championships was held in 1903, exclusively for male gymnasts. Since the tenth edition of the tournament, in 1934, women's events are held together with men's events.
Danuta Kordaczuk-Wagner was a Polish volleyball player and head coach, a member of Poland women's national volleyball team in 1956–1970, a bronze medalist of the Olympic Games Tokyo 1964, a bronze medalist of the World Championship and medalist of the European Championship.
Ladislav Štípek was a male international table tennis player from Czechoslovakia.
Marek Švec is an amateur Greco-Roman wrestler from the Czech Republic. He is a three-time Olympian, and also, a multiple-time medalist at both the World and European Championships. He also won the bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Natalia Kot-Wala is a Polish former artistic gymnast. She is the 1956 Olympic bronze medalist with the Polish team, 1959 European all-around and vault champion, as well as 2-time European bronze medalist. She also competed at the 1960 Summer Olympics.
Bohumil Tomášek was a Czech basketball player and coach. He was voted to the Czechoslovakian 20th Century Team in 2001.
