Chemnitz sports history

The history of modern sport began in Chemnitz in the first half of the 19th century.

As early as 1837, the Chemnitz "father of gymnastics" Ambrosius Weigand (1799 to 1868) opened a private "gymnastics centre".

The first Chemnitz gymnastics club was founded in 1847. From 1860 onwards, around forty gymnastics clubs were founded in the city, its districts and suburbs.

Parallel to the German gymnastics clubs, a large number of clubs for individual sports, cycling, heavy athletics and various ball games were founded from 1880 onwards.

Other sections of the population were introduced to the sports movement from 1893 onwards through the development of social-democratically influenced workers' sport. Within this organisationally independent movement, a large number of clubs were also formed in the city.

By 1910, there were already over 100 clubs with around 30,000 members in the city of Chemnitz. There were well-known sports facilities in the city, such as the "Altendorf cycling track", and gymnastics and sports equipment (Dietrich & Hannak) was manufactured in Germany and around the world.

Competitive athletes from Chemnitz also achieved their first successes on the national and international stage at this time. In 1911, Chemnitz labelled itself a "sports city" for the first time.

After the I. After the First World War, the sports infrastructure in particular was expanded. By the end of the 1920s, there were already over 50 sports grounds and playgrounds in the Chemnitz city area. The majority of today's sports facilities can be traced back to the enormous efforts of this time.

In 1928, the cyclist Gerhard John from the "RC Diamant" was the first person from Chemnitz to take part in an Olympic Games (Amsterdam). In the 1930s, two large sports buildings were inaugurated, the municipal swimming pool (1935) and the "Großkampfbahn" (1938), now the Sportforum. Cyclist Carl Lorenz won his first Olympic gold medal in Chemnitz in 1936.

After the Second World War, the great sporting traditions were continued under changed social conditions. Following the dissolution of the traditional old clubs, organised sport was linked to companies and institutions, and "company sports associations" (BSG) were formed.

In Chemnitz, which bore the name "Karl-Marx-Stadt" from 1953 to 1990, there were around 50 such sports clubs. The state-organised competitive sports system was of outstanding importance during the GDR era. The "Sportclub Karl-Marx-Stadt" (SCK) was one of the most successful centres of competitive sport in the GDR.

SCK athletes won around 400 medals in international competitions. Lasting achievements were also made during the GDR era in the construction of sports facilities, with the new cycling track in the Sportforum (1950), the ice sports complex (1954- 1973) or the 50m swimming hall without a roof in the Sportforum (1967/68) and in 1976 with a roof (mobile).

After the political upheaval of 1989/90, another phase of reorientation and reorganisation in sport began. Most of the former company sports associations were transformed into clubs. In some cases, old traditions were continued by re-establishing clubs from before 1945.

Today, around 200 clubs with around 30,500 members exist under the umbrella of the Stadtsportbund. Great efforts have been made since reunification to renovate sports facilities or to build new ones, such as the multi-purpose athletics hall (1995) in the Sportforum.

A variety of measures to transfer the GDR's competitive sports system to the Federal Republic's support system have also made it possible to build on earlier successes in the field of competitive sports.

Athletes such as Lars Riedel (discus throw), Michael Hübner (cycle sprint), Jens Fiedler (cycle sprint), Mandy Wötzel/Ingo Steuer (figure skating) and Stev Theloke (swimming) have achieved outstanding sporting successes since reunification.

A positive development has taken place in recent years in the field of disabled sports, where athletes such as Daniela Salzmann (blind/running) or Maria Götze (small stature/swimming) have achieved international success.

Chemnitzer FC (CFC), which emerged from FCK, slipped into the regional league in 1996, but was promoted back to paid football (2nd league) in 1999. After a temporary relegation to the Oberliga, the CFC made its way back and played in the 3rd Bundesliga for several years. The Chemnitz football club has been playing in the regional league since 2020 and was also Saxony Cup winner in 2022 after 2021.