Competitive Sports

The history of competitive sports in the Oberwiesenthal resort region began with the founding of the Ober- and Unterwiesenthal Ski Club in 1906. By 1928, people from Oberwiesenthal were already competing in competitive events. A new era began with the founding of the Sports Club SC Traktor in 1955. At the beginning the sports alpine skiing and Nordic skiing were promoted as focal points of winter sports. But, starting in 1958, there was a systematic build-up of the luge racing section. An important foundation stone was the Kinder und Jugendsportschule [Sports Academy for Children and Youth] Oberwiesenthal, which was founded in 1965.

In 1968, the DDR’s national sports authority removed alpine racing sports from sports subsidies for children and youth, and a year later they forbade alpine competitors’ continued participation in international competitions. This occurred just as Oberwiesenthal was beginning to make a name for itself in the alpine racing scene and as a location for international competitions. Ernst Scherzer, Werner and Peter Lützendorf and Eberhard Riedel had especially contributed to this success.

Since then SC Traktor has concentrated on the promotion of luge, ski jumping and cross-country skiing as well as the Nordic Combination. SC Traktor has produced many successful athletes such as Ulrich Wehling, Jens Weißflog, Barbara Petzlold and Klaus-Michael Bonsack.

A great plus for Oberwiesenthal as a location for winter sports was the dedication of the new Fichtelberg ski jump in 1974 and the construction of a cross-country and biathlon stadium.

To further promote Oberwiesenthal as a location for competitive sports, various measures were taken, such as submitting an application with the FIS. In October 1999, the President of the ASC Oberwiesenthal e.V applied for the re-homologation of the racing course “Unter der Seilbahn” for competitive slalom races with the FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DE SKI (FIS). In the same process, the application for homologation of the racing course “Am Wäldchen” for slalom racing was submitted and it was homologised on October 29th, 1999. Renewal of the Homologation was done on September 23rd, 2010 and it will remain in effect for both courses until November 1st, 2020.

The resort town of Oberwiesenthal thus has, to date, the only challenging FIS-racing courses in eastern Germany. Thanks to homologation, national and international competitions in the alpine ski disciplines can again be held in Oberwiesenthal.

Another step in the promotion of sports was the construction of the Sparkassen Ski Arena on December 2nd, 2006 on the access road to Fichtelberg. At an elevation of around 1,100 m, there are standard courses from 1.3 km to 7.5 km, the relay station and the start and finish lines. Another plus is found in the biathlon courses and the shooting range with 25 kk and 15 LG stands. In winter season, national and international Nordic ski and biathlon competitions are held here. The trail house in the arena offers athletes, day tourists and tourists on holiday a wide range of dressing, provisioning and rental options, as well as WCs and showers for use.

The history and development of competitive sports in the Oberwiesenthal resort shows just how important and decisive this process was and is for the city. The city on the Fichtelberg has produced numerous athletes. Overall, athletes from Oberwiesenthal won 360 medals in the Olympic Games, World Championships, European Championships and Junior World Championships between 1962 and 2014. This means that on average seven medals can be attributed to athletes from Germany’s highest city every season. 

List of Medals won by Athletes from Oberwiesenthal (Status: March 2014)

	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Olympic Games	21	13	12
World Championships	48	46	33
European Championships	11	22	11
Junior World Championships	29	27	23
Junior European Championships	20	20	16
Total	132	130	98