Sport in Germany
[4] Germany´s male and female national handball teams are often featured among the world's best, while the Handball-Bundesliga is seen as one of the elite leagues of Europe.
Tennis has a long history in the country with a German, Gottfried von Cramm, being the first non American, British, Australian or French Grand Slam tournemant singles winner,[10] along with fencing, shooting and boxing.
At Berlin's Hasenheide Friedrich Ludwig Jahn opened the first German gymnastics field ('Turnplatz'), or open-air gymnasium, in spring 1811.
Particularly by his main writing "Die Deutsche Turnkunst" (1816) the apparatus gymnastics developed to an independent kind of sport, and so the gym activities were not only limited to simple physical exercises, which he quoted as following: "Going, running, jumping, throwing, carrying are free exercises, everywhere applicable, as free as fresh air."
Jahn's Turners movement, first realized at Volkspark Hasenheide in Berlin in 1811, was the origin of the modern sports clubs.
[14] With the national gymnastics festivals in Coburg in 1860, in Berlin in 1861 and in Leipzig in 1863, the memory of Jahn's ideas returned into the people's consciousness.
The inscription at the gable of his house "Frisch, Fromm, Fröhlich, Frei", translated as 'fresh, pious, cheerful, free", which originated in Jahn's time, became the basic idea of the German gymnastics movement.
Germany also hosted the World Cup in 1974, which they won, and 2006, finishing third in 2006 after losing a close semi-final contest to eventual winners Italy.
Germany is the only nation to win both the men's and women's competitions in the World Cups, European titles and Olympic Games gold.
Among the most successful athletes are Malaika Mihambo, Franka Dietzsch, Robert Harting, Lars Riedel and Armin Hary.
Traditionally the teams in the league have been situated in smaller cities where the competition from football have not been so tough (Kiel and Flensburg for example), but during the 21st century more teams from larger cities have emerged such as HSV Hamburg, TSV Hannover-Burgdorf, TVB Stuttgart, SC DHfK Leipzig and Füchse Berlin.
The Germany men's national ice hockey team has featured several prominent current and former NHL players, including Hart Trophy winner Leon Draisaitl, who is considered one of the best players in the world, Philipp Grubauer, Tim Stützle, Moritz Seider, Dominik Kahun, Christian Ehrhoff, Jochen Hecht, Dennis Seidenberg, Thomas Greiss, Marcel Goc and Marco Sturm and NHL prospects like Alexander Sulzer, Philip Gogulla, Lukas Reichel and Marcel Müller.
One of the most popular non-football athletes to come out of Germany is Dirk Nowitzki, who played as power forward for the Dallas Mavericks in his 21-year career in the NBA.
While countless race winning cars have come from Germany, only Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg have been Formula One world champions (they have won 12 titles combined) and Walter Röhrl being the sole World Rally Champion from Germany (he won two titles).
At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, André Lange piloted both the two-man and four-man sleds to gold, sweeping the men's bobsledding events.
Noted lugers include Georg Hackl, Klaus Bonsack, Margit Schumann, David Möller, Felix Loch, Silke Kraushaar-Pielach, Sylke Otto, Tatjana Hüfner and Natalie Geisenberger.
Some of Germany's most successful biathletes include Frank-Peter Roetsch, Michael Greis, Sven Fischer, Ricco Groß and Frank Luck among the men and Uschi Disl, Andrea Henkel, Kati Wilhelm, Magdalena Neuner and Laura Dahlmeier among the women.
Along with biathlon, ski jumping is the most popular winter sport in Germany, with TV broadcasts regularly attracting five million viewers,[26] and the country has produced a number of top jumpers.
Title-winning competitors include Georg Thoma, Ulrich Wehling, Hermann Weinbuch, Ronny Ackermann and Eric Frenzel.
Felix Neureuther is Germany's most successful male skier in terms of World Cup race wins with 13.
[27] Rosi Mittermaier, Katja Seizinger and Maria Höfl-Riesch have won multiple world-level titles on the women's circuit.
Four of the five most prolific winners in the women's ISU Speed Skating World Cup are German – Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann, Jenny Wolf, Anni Friesinger-Postma and Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt.
Claudia Pechstein won nine Olympic medals in long track speed skating, more than any other skater, male or female.
Other notable German competitors include Manfred Schnelldorfer, Jan Hoffmann, Gabriele Seyfert, Anett Pötzsch and the pairings of Ria Baran and Paul Falk, Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler, and Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy.
Jan was regarded as Lance Armstrong's only consistent rival, finishing second to him several times in the Tour de France.
Boxing is among the most watched TV sports in Germany with both male and female fights enjoying regular spots on national television.
[49] In recent years Germany has become a hub for boxing, the Vegas of Europe, and many international fighters travel to fight out of the country.
Rugby league is a minor sport in Germany, having been introduced in August 2004 by Simon Cooper who was born in Halifax, England and whose father is German.
With Germany being one of the most successful Water sports nations[55] sailing, rowing, swimming, wind- and kitesurfing, wakeboarding, underwater diving, fishing, powerboating water aerobics and yachting are popular in Germany, especially with large annual events such as Kiel Week or Hanse Sail in Rostock.
Among the most well known athletes are Franziska van Almsick, Britta Steffen, Michael Gross, Peter Nocke, Paul Biedermann and Heike Friedrich.
