Olympic Stadium in Wrocław

About

The Olympic Stadium (Polish: Stadion Olimpijski) is a multi-purpose stadium in Wrocław, Poland. It is the home stadium of speedway team Sparta Wrocław and American football team Panthers Wrocław. The stadium has a capacity now of 11,000 people and was supposed to be one of the main pitches on UEFA Euro 2012. The newly constructed Stadion Miejski was used for that event instead.

The stadium was built from 1926 to 1928 as Schlesierkampfbahn ( Silesian Arena ) according to a design by Richard Konwiarz. It was part of a larger sports complex in the city district of Zalesie (then Leerbeutel ), again extended from 1935 to 1939 and renamed Hermann-Göring -Stadion under the Nazi German authorities. On 16 May 1937, it was the site of the legendary Breslau Eleven football match, when the Germany national football team defeated Denmark 8–0. Despite its current Polish name, the arena has never been an Olympic Games site (in particular, for the 1936 Summer Olympics ); however the builder Richard Konwiarz achieved a bronze medal in the art competitions at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles for his architectural design.

Heavily devastated during the Siege of Breslau in World War II, the stadium was rebuilt by the Polish municipal administration and named after General Karol Świerczewski. From the 1970s it was used by the Wrocław University School of Physical Education and comprehensively modernized with floodlights and an undersoil heating. The Wrocław city administration assumed ownership in 2006 and had the speedway racing track rebuilt, whereafter the smaller football pitch no longer met the requirements of UEFA stadium categories.

The speedway track is 387 metres (423 yd) in length.

The stadium has hosted the Speedway Grand Prix of Poland in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, and 2000. It also was a venue of the Speedway Grand Prix of Europe in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. The stadium has hosted american football competition and motorcycle speedway competition at 2017 World Games.

- 1975 – Sweden ( Anders Michanek / Tommy Jansson ) – 24pts

- 1961 – Poland ( Marian Kaiser / Henryk Żyto / Florian Kapała / Mieczysław Połukard / Stanislaw Tkocz ) – 32pts

- 1966 – Poland ( Andrzej Pogorzelski / Marian Rose / Antoni Woryna / Andrzej Wyglenda ) – 41pts

- 1971 – Great Britain ( Ray Wilson / Ivan Mauger / Jim Airey / Barry Briggs / Ronnie Moore )* – 37pts

- 1977 – England ( Peter Collins / Michael Lee / Dave Jessup / John Davis / Malcolm Simmons ) – 37pts

- 1980 – England ( Michael Lee / Chris Morton / Peter Collins / Dave Jessup / John Davis ) – 40pts * The Great Britain Speedway Team contained riders from the Commonwealth nations until the early 1970s. Mauger, Briggs and Moore were from New Zealand, Airey from Australia and Wilson from England.

- 2001 – Australia ( Jason Crump / Leigh Adams / Ryan Sullivan / Todd Wiltshire / Craig Boyce ) – 68pts

- 2005 – Poland ( Tomasz Gollob / Piotr Protasiewicz / Jarosław Hampel / Rune Holta / Grzegorz Walasek ) – 62pts

- 1975 – Sweden ( Anders Michanek / Tommy Jansson ) – 24pts

- 1961 – Poland ( Marian Kaiser / Henryk Żyto / Florian Kapała / Mieczysław Połukard / Stanislaw Tkocz ) – 32pts

- 1966 – Poland ( Andrzej Pogorzelski / Marian Rose / Antoni Woryna / Andrzej Wyglenda ) – 41pts

- 1971 – Great Britain ( Ray Wilson / Ivan Mauger / Jim Airey / Barry Briggs / Ronnie Moore )* – 37pts

- 1977 – England ( Peter Collins / Michael Lee / Dave Jessup / John Davis / Malcolm Simmons ) – 37pts

- 1980 – England ( Michael Lee / Chris Morton / Peter Collins / Dave Jessup / John Davis ) – 40pts * The Great Britain Speedway Team contained riders from the Commonwealth nations until the early 1970s. Mauger, Briggs and Moore were from New Zealand, Airey from Australia and Wilson from England.

- 2001 – Australia ( Jason Crump / Leigh Adams / Ryan Sullivan / Todd Wiltshire / Craig Boyce ) – 68pts