Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Education and Mental Culture. Introd. by P. E. Lindström - 7. Athletics and Sport (Idrott). By [V. G. Balck] G. Åsbrink
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iv. education and mental cultulle.
Athletic grounds have been laid out in many places in order to serve as
central training places for those taking part in athletic exercises. The
"Athletic Park" in Stockholm, in its day a favourite resort of the lovers of sport in
the Swedish capital, has now been entirely transformed, the old buildings
having been removed and the grounds having become the site of the Stadion
(Stadium), erected to serve as the scene of the Olympic Games of Stockholm,
in 1912, the building expenses of which came to more than one million kronor
(about £ 55 000). It is considered to be the most beautiful and most practical
Stadium in existence. It seats 20 000 spectators, and under the stands there
are corridors leading to the Royal Box, and to the dressing-rooms, bath-rooms,
and lavatories for the athletes that are competing or training. The arena
includes a football ground, places for all kinds of jumping and throwing
competitions, and a first-class running-track. In the winter the grounds are turned
into an excellent and much frequented skating-rink. Athletic Parks, or
well-arranged athletic grounds, have been laid out at Gothenburg, Norrköping, Sundsvall,
Falun, Östersund, Jönköping, Västerås, Visby, Uppsala, Örebro, Malmö, Lund,
Landskrona, Hälsingborg, and other places, while several other towns contemplate
laying out similar grounds. In the immediate neighbourhood of Stockholm there
are several excellent athletic grounds, such as those at Råsunda, Traneberg,
Aspudden, and Djursholm.
Game shooting and Rifle shooting are two closely related branches of sport.
Game shooting has, at all times, been a national sport, pursued everywhere in
the country, originally as a profession, now almost exclusively as a sport. The
royal elk-hunts at Hunneberg in Västergötland are, perhaps, the principal
big-game hunts in Europe; on these occasions some fifty of these stately animals
will, at times, bite the dust. Kungl. Jaktklubben (The Royal Game Shooting
Club) is the chief of the kind in the country. Hundreds of first-class shooting
parties are held annually, all over Sweden.
For the promoting of rifle shooting — important from the point of view of
national defence — a number of rifle-shooting clubs, enjoying State support,
have been organized. These rifle-shooting associations reckon about 170 000
members and receive a State grant of about one million kronor a year. Svenska
jägareförbundet (The Swedish Hunters’ Association), with head-quarters in
Stockholm and branches in the provinces, practises rifle shooting from a hunting point
of view. Everywhere shooting-matches are held, and the State provides means
for the prizes. Göteborgs skyttegille (The Gothenburg Shooting Club) has
presented a valuable Challenge cup, which is annually competed for by
team-shooting. Rifleshooting matches for school-boys are also arranged, among which
that held annually in Stockholm has become a kind of national festivity.
Biding, as a sport, has chiefly been practised by professional riders, i. e.,
cavalry officers. Of låte years, during which a special Racing Club, a Jockey
Club, and several Cross-country Clubs have been formed, riding has come to
be more generally practised by civilians and ladies, too. Excellent race-courses
have been laid out, and races are held annually at many places in the country.
Hunt-rides, steeplechases, hurdle-races, despatch rides, trail races, and cross-country
riding of different kinds are arranged by the cross-country clubs, and riding has
taken a more practical turn in consequence of cross-country riding now
receiving as much attention as manègé riding, formerly more exclusively
practised. Swedish cavalry officers enjoy the reputation of being excellent riders.
At the Olympic Games of 1912 they took all the prizes in prize-riding, and
the first prize in the "Military", both in the individual and in the team
competitions. On the same occasion they gained the first prize in prize-jumping. The
Army riding-school at Strömsholm is considered to be one of the best in
Europe.
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