Sports in Austria

Sports in Austria is carried on both competitively and as a leisure activity; it also forms part of the school curriculum. As regards competitive sports, Austria rates very highly at an international level, both in terms of top performances in various disciplines and of the ratio of active sportsmen and sportswomen to the population as a whole. Leisure-time sports are primarily undertaken for purposes of relaxation and play a major part in maintaining physical fitness and good health. Sports that form a part of the school curriculum encourage young people to play and perform well, and also influence the way in which they will choose to spend their leisure time later on in life.

Encouragement of Sports
According to the Austrian Constitution, sports are the responsibility of the federal authorities, too. In 1999 the federal budget allocated ATS 610.4 million to the promotion of sports. Of this sum, ATS 400 million was devoted to specific sports promotion (tax revenue from the pools and sports lotteries) and ATS 210.4 million to general sports promotion. These federal funds also finance sports facilities, e.g. sports hostels, sports schools and a sports center, as well as the training of sports coaches, trainers and teachers. Sports clubs are also assisted through subsidies granted by local authorities.

27,500 Sports Clubs
The Austrian Federal Sport Organization is the coordinating body for 27,500 sports clubs. It comprises the Federal Sports Council, which embraces three umbrella associations: the General Sports Association of Austria (ASVÖ), the Working Group of Sports and Physical Training in Austria (ASKÖ) and the Austrian Gymnastic and Sports Union (SPORTUNION), as well as the Federal Specialist Sports Council, which unites the 53 recognized specialist sports associations in Austria. A look at the list of the ten largest sports organizations in terms of members shows which are the most popular sports practiced in Austria: mountaineering, football, tennis, skiing, curling, gymnastics, swimming, golf, cycling and shooting.

Host Country for International Sporting Events
Austria is a popular host for major international sporting events. Twice, in 1964 and in 1976, the Tyrolean capital, Innsbruck, was selected as the venue for the Winter Olympics, and the good reputation Austria enjoys throughout the sporting world is also evidenced by the fact that it has hosted a series of European and world championships. These include the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Saalbach/Hinterglemm (Salzburg) in 1991, the Ice Hockey World Championship in Vienna in 1996, the Nordic Skiing World Championships in the Ramsau (Styria) in 1999, and the Alpine Skiing World Championships in St. Anton am Arlberg (Tyrol) in 2001–to mention but a few. In addition, Austria has played host to several important sports conferences and will also be the scene of the World Cup ski races held in a number of major winter sports resorts every year, the best-known of these being the Hahnenkammrennen in the Tyrolean skiing mecca Kitzbühel. Other traditional sporting events include the ski-jumping competitions on Bergisel near Innsbruck and in Bischofshofen (Salzburg) as part of the “Fourth-Jump Competition”, as well as the International Tennis Championships in Kitzbühel and the Grand Prix Tennis Tournaments in Vienna’s Stadthalle.