Winter sports
Skiing and mountaineering are much practiced by Swiss people and foreigners, the highest summits attract mountaineers from around the world.
As a predominantly mountainous country Switzerland has traditionally been one of the strongest nations in the sport of alpine skiing, where it has a long-running rivalry with neighboring Austria. [4] The Swiss reached their peak in the sport in the 1980s, when they won the overall Nations' Cup in the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup for seven consecutive years from 1981 to 1987. Switzerland's most successful alpine skiers include Pirmin Zurbriggen, Peter Müller, Bernhard Russi, Didier Cuche, Franz Heinzer and Michael von Grünigen among the men and Vreni Schneider, Erika Hess, Michela Figini, Maria Walliser, Marie Therese Nadig, Sonja Nef, Lise-Marie Morerod and Brigitte Oertli among the women.
Switzerland is also notable as the birthplace of competitive sledding, which originated in the Swiss resort of St. Moritz, which was also where the first bobsleigh was constructed in the late nineteenth century. Switzerland has traditionally been a strong nation in bobsleigh, enjoying a particularly fierce rivalry with East Germany in the 1970s and 1980s. [5]
Simon Ammann has been one of the world's best ski jumpers in the 21st century, whilst Dario Cologna has emerged as one of the top cross-country skiers in the world in the late 2000s.
Curling has been a very popular winter sport for more than 30 years. The Swiss teams have won 3 World Men's Curling Championships and 2 Women's titles. The Swiss men's team skipped by Dominic Andres won a gold medal at 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.
Stéphane Lambiel, two-time winner of the World Figure Skating Championships amongst numerous other domestic and international competitions, is one of the world's top figure skaters.
Bandy exists in minor form. In September 2017 Switzerland made its debut at the annual rink bandy tournament in Nymburk, Czech Republic. [6] [7] At the 2018 Women's Bandy World Championship, Switzerland will participate. [8] [9]
Motorsport
Motorsport road racing circuits and events were banned in Switzerland following the 1955 Le Mans disaster with the exception of events held in a time trial format such as hillclimbing. On June 6, 2007 an amendment to lift the ban was passed by the lower house of the Swiss parliament. [17] However the proposed law failed to pass the upper house, and was withdrawn in 2009 after being rejected twice. [18] In 2015 the Swiss government allowed a relaxation of the law, permitting head-to-head racing for electric vehicles only. [19] In June 2018 Switzerland hosted its first motor race in 63 years when the first Zürich ePrix was held as a round of the all-electric Formula E championship. [20]
Despite the long-standing restrictions, the country has produced successful road racing drivers such as Clay Regazzoni, Jo Siffert and successful World Touring Car Championship driver Alain Menu. Switzerland also won the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in 2007-08 with driver Neel Jani. Swiss racing driver Marcel Fässler won the World Endurance Championship in 2012 and has won the Le Mans 24 Hours three times, and motorcycle racer Thomas Lüthi won the 2005 MotoGP World Championship in the 125cc category. Urs Erbacher is a six time FIA European Drag Racing champion. Also, Formula One constructor Sauber is based in Switzerland. In recent years, drivers such as Romain Grosjean and Sébastien Buemi have been successful in Formula One, Formula E, WEC and Le Mans.
However, other forms of motorsport are permitted, such as rallying, motocross, supermotard, enduro and trials.
High-profile drivers from Formula One and World Rally Championship such as Michael Schumacher, Nick Heidfeld, Kimi Räikkönen, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Sébastien Loeb and Sebastian Vettel all have a residence in Switzerland, [21] sometimes for tax purposes. [22] [23]
Other sports
Switzerland is also the home of the sailing team Alinghi which won the America's Cup in 2003 and defended the title in 2007. Golf is becoming increasingly popular, with already more than 35 courses available and more in planning. André Bossert is a successful Swiss professional golfer.
The Switzerland national beach football team won the Euro Beach football Cup in 2005 and were runners-up twice, in 2008 Euro Beach football Cup and 2009 Euro Beach football Cup. More recently, they were also runners-up in the 2009 FIFA Beach football World Cup that took place in November.
The Switzerland women's national floorball team has become world champion once, in 2005, and taken medals in most other tournaments. The national team for men has taken eight medals in twelve tournaments.
Other sports where the Swiss have been successful include athletics, (Werner Günthör and Markus Ryffel), fencing, (Marcel Fischer), cycling, (Fabian Cancellara, Ferdinand Kübler, Hugo Koblet, Oscar Egg, Jolanda Neff, Stefan Küng), kickboxing (Andy Hug), whitewater slalom (Ronnie Dürrenmatt—canoe, Mathias Röthenmund—kayak), beach volleyball (Sascha Heyer, Markus Egger, Paul and Martin Laciga), professional wrestling (Claudio Castagnoli), and triathlon (Brigitte McMahon, Reto Hug, Sven Riederer, Nicola Spirig, Daniela Ryf).
In cycling, Fabian Cancellara nicknamed 'Spartacus' is one of the best road racer of modern times. He has achieved great success in the classics; he has won Paris–Roubaix three times, the Milan – San Remo once, and the Tour of Flanders three times. Cancellara has won the opening stage of the Tour de France five times and has led the race for 28 days total, which is the most of any rider who has not won the Tour. His success has not been limited to just time trials and classics, as he has won general classification of the Tirreno–Adriatico, Tour de Suisse, and the Tour of Oman. In 2008, he won gold in the individual time trial and silver in the men's road race at the Summer Olympics. In 2016, at the Summer Olympics, he won in his last race of his career gold in the individual time trial. In addition, Cancellara has been the time trial world champion four times in his career.
Switzerland is the third most successful orienteering country in history.
The Swiss national lacrosse team has qualified for the World Lacrosse Championship three consequtive times (2010-2018). At the most recent event (2018), it finished 20th out of 46.
Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.
Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold areas during winter, but artificial snow and artificial ice allow more flexibility. Playing areas and fields consist of either snow or ice.
Approximately 5 million of the 17 million people in the Netherlands are registered to one of the 35,000 sports clubs in the country. About two thirds of the population older than 15 years participates in sports weekly.
Sports in Japan are a significant part of Japanese culture. Traditional sports, such as sumo and martial arts, as well as Western imports like baseball, association football, basketball and tennis are popular with both participants and spectators.
Sportin Lithuania is governed by the Physical Education and Sports Department following the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. The Lithuanian government established the department to manage physical education in the schools and sports administration in the country. Over the next few years, Lithuanian sports organizations established membership in international governing bodies. Lithuania participated in the Winter Olympics in Albertville and has participated in every Winter and Summer Olympics since.
Poland's sports encompass almost all sporting disciplines, in particular: football, volleyball, motorcycle speedway, ski jumping, track and field, 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, Bartosz Zmarzlik, Maciej Janowski 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 Nordic Games were the first international multi-sport event that focused primarily on winter sports, and were held at varying intervals between 1901 and 1926. It was organized by Sweden's Swedish Central Association for the Promotion of Athletics, and more specifically by Viktor Balck, a member of that association and one of the five original members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was, in many ways, a precursor to the modern Winter Olympic Games, whose success was a contributing factor to the Nordic Games's discontinuation in the 1920s.
Sport is considered a national pastime in Sweden, and about half of the population actively takes part in sports activities. The most important all-embracing organisations for sports in Sweden are the Swedish Sports Confederation, and the Swedish Olympic Committee. In total over 2 million people are members of a sports club.
Kazakhstan's former long-term President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has challenged sports organizers to engage 30 percent of the country's population in sports. The state has numerous sports clubs where people participate in various types of sports; sport facilities are available to the general public. Kazakhstan currently hosts major international tournaments; Astana and Almaty hosted the VII Asian Winter Games 2011, which drew teams from 27 countries.
Sportin Germany is an important part of German culture and their society. In 2006 about 28 million people were members of the more than 87.000 sport clubs in Germany. Almost all sports clubs are represented by the German Olympic Sports Federation.
Sport plays a central role in Scottish culture. The temperate, oceanic climate has played a key part in the evolution of sport in Scotland, with all-weather sports like association football and golf dominating the national sporting consciousness. However, many other sports are played in the country, with popularity varying between sports and between regions.
Sport is considered a national pastime in Finland and many Finns visit different sporting events regularly. Pesäpallo is the national sport of Finland, although the most popular forms of sport in terms of television viewers and media coverage are ice hockey and Formula One. In spectator attendance, harness racing comes right after ice hockey in popularity.
Sport in France plays an important role in French society, which is reflected in its popularity among the French people and the nation's strong sporting history. Various types of sports are played and followed in France, notably cycling, fencing, football, and handball, which has earned France eight victories in world championships and five Olympic medals. France is also the four-time European champion of handball.
A wide array of sports are played in Armenia. Popular sports in Armenia include football, basketball, volleyball, and ice hockey. Further, the country sends athletes to the Olympics in boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, gymnastics, track and field, diving, swimming, and shooting. Armenia's mountainous terrain provides great opportunities for the practice of sports like skiing and rock climbing. Being a landlocked country, water sports can only be practiced on lakes, notably Lake Sevan. Competitively, Armenia has been very successful at chess, weightlifting, and wrestling at the international level. Armenia is also an active member of the international sports community, with full membership in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Federation of International Bandy (FIB), International School Sport Federation, International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), among others. It also hosts the Pan-Armenian Games.
Sport in Europe tends to be highly organized with many sports having professional leagues. The origins of many of the world's most popular sports today lie in the codification of many traditional games, especially in the United Kingdom. However, a paradoxical feature of European sport is the extent to which local, regional and national variations continue to exist, and even in some instances to predominate.
Sport in Croatia has significant role in Croatian culture, and many local sports clubs as well as the Croatian national squads enjoy strong followings in the country. The most enduring sport by far in Croatia is football, and is played on amateur and professional levels amongst all age groups across the entire country. Several other major team sports are handball, basketball and water polo, with clubs in all parts of Croatia. Ice hockey is another popular team sport, namely in the Croatian interior. The most popular individual sports in Croatia are tennis, alpine skiing, and swimming, and to some extent table tennis and chess. Various amateur sport games are popular in Croatia, notably picigin.
Sport in Denmark is diverse. The national sport is running, but club sport is football with the most notable results being qualifying for the European Championships six times in a row (1984–2004) and winning the Championship in 1992. Other significant achievements include winning the Confederations Cup in 1995 and reaching the quarter final of the 1998 World Cup. Other popular sports include handball, esports, cycling, sailing sports, badminton, ice hockey, swimming, and recently also golf. A few youths also play basketball.
Sports play a significant part in the life of many Czechs who are generally loyal supporters of their favourite teams or individuals.
Sport plays an important role in Estonian culture. Estonia first competed as a nation at the 1920 Summer Olympics, although the National Olympic Committee was established in 1923. Estonian athletes took part at every Olympic Games until the country was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. The 1980 Summer Olympics sailing regatta was held in the capital city Tallinn. Estonia has won most of its Olympic medals in wrestling, athletics, weightlifting, and cross-country skiing.
Sports are widely practiced in Austria, both in professional and amateur competitions. The most popular sports are association football, alpine skiing and ice hockey.
