Page 37 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Austria
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A POR TR AIT OF A USTRIA 35
and is considered to be the
predeces sor of the Bundes
fachverband für Reiten und
Fahren (Federal League for
Riding and Driving), which was
established in 1962.
Austrian riders have achieved
many international successes.
Two of its legends include
the prewar master of horse
dressage, Alois Podhajsky, and
showjumping champion Hugo
Simon, a big character among
Austrian riders during the
1980s and 1990s. In the 1980s,
Austrian competitors began to
achieve considerable success
in harness racing, involving
Johann Wolfmayr and team in the World Championship in pair driving one and twohorse carts.
Rodeos – known as
at just 17, he holds the record Westernreiten (wild west
Soccer for the youngest player to play riding) – have been introduced
Austria’s national soccer (or for Austria. from America, and are very
football) team may struggle to popular across the country.
compete with the world’s best,
but the sport remains one of
the country’s most popular – Canoeing and
Mountain Biking
for spectators and participants.
The national team has an With its many rivers and lakes
unenviable record of failing to and its superb mountain
qualify for world and European scenery, Austria boasts the
championships. It has comp perfect natural conditions,
eted in the World Cup only along with a welldeveloped
seven times, most recently in infra structure, for both
1998. In 2008, Austria cohosted canoeing and mountain biking.
the UEFA European Champion Stefan Schwab of Rapid Wien, playing Though this does not always
ships (more commonly known against Ajax translate into inter national
as the Euros) with Switzerland. medals, the huge popularity of
The team automatically quali Horse Riding summer mountain sports
fied for the event as a result among Austrians and visitors is
but was knocked out at the Founded in 1872, the first never theless very noticeable.
group stages. After qualifying sports riding club in Austria, Mountain canoeing is
for the 2016 Euros, the team the Campagnereiter practised on turbulent
faced a similar fate: it lost to Gesellschaft, had the Emperor mountain streams. In 2012,
its bitterest historical rival, Franz Joseph I, himself a keen the mountain biking World
Hungary, and crashed out at rider, as a patron. It consisted Championship was held
the group stages once again. mainly of military personnel, in Saalfelden.
Austria’s top competitive
soccer league is the Bundesliga,
with ten teams battling to
claim the league title. Vienna
is home to two of the most
successful teams: Rapid
Wien has won the national
championship 32 times while
its rival Austria Wien has
claimed the crown 23 times.
Despite playing for Germany’s
Bayern Munich, the country’s
most famous footballer is
David Alaba. Making his
international debut in 2009 Helmut Oblinger competing in the individual slalom in Sydney
034-035_EW_Austria.indd 35 12/09/17 2:45 pm
