"Back to the roofs": What changes at the European Championships compared to the 1972 Olympics

Created: 08/11/2022, 07:41

By: Gunter Klein

Beach volleyball is played at the Königsplatz during the European Championships.

© Sven Hoppe/dpa

The 1972 Olympics experienced a resurgence with the European Championships in Munich.

Many sports and competition venues are different this time.

Munich – "Back to the roofs" is a good slogan.

Because he plays with the idea of ​​"back to the roots" (roots), that the European Championships Munich 2022 are based on the Olympic Games of 1972. Sport meets again under the (tent) roof, the "roof".

Whereby the occasional reference that nine European championships take place under one roof in the Olympic Park is not entirely correct.

Because just as it was 50 years ago, you can also go outside.

The Olympic Stadium is the heart, then as now.

In 1972, it not only hosted the athletics competitions, but also football and the team competition in show jumping - but football and equestrian sport are not on the program at the championships.

What is also missing: swimming.

Four years ago it was part of the European Championships, which were spread over two locations (Berlin, Glasgow).

Munich would have liked to host swimming and diving, but failed due to a requirement from the umbrella organization: it demands a pool with ten lanes, Munich only has eight.

And so there will be swimming in Rome from August 11th to 21st, the good old Olympic swimming pool has nothing of the multi-sport event around it.

European Championships: No spectators on the Olympiaberg

Track cycling has disappeared from the Olympic Park.

The velodrome from 1972 was not used for a long time.

The Sixdays made a career in Munich, but in the large Olympic Hall.

Where the Radstadion stood, the SAP Garden is now growing towards a new age of the Olympic Park.

The cycling track is a temporary construction in the exhibition center for the championships.

When the games were in Munich, people were glued to the Olympiaberg to see what was happening in the stadium.

This will not be the case to the same extent in 2022, because the mountain has been prepared and reserved for the new cycling disciplines of mountain biking and BMX - you can watch from the side of the track.

Triathlon wasn't even invented five decades ago - now it's helping to include the Olympic Lake, which was there for decoration in 1972.

The northern part of the Olympic Park is not included in the European Championships: Volleyball (the construction went to university sports) and hockey (the stadium was dismantled) were played there at the time.

The ice rink where boxing took place in 1972 is at least there as a volunteer center.

In 1972, the trade fair was an Olympic district - although it was still the old one on the Schwanthalerhöhe.

It offered a home for wrestling, judo, weightlifting and fencing - sports that are not represented at the European Championships.

European Championships in Munich: Königsplatz plays a major role

Part of the concept of the Munich Games was to include local sights: archery was held in the English Garden, dressage in front of Nymphenburg Palace - which the marathon runners also passed, as well as the Königsplatz.

In 2022, the Königsplatz will play a major role - for climbing and beach volleyball, a future that was not yet foreseeable in 1972.

The Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle has survived - although it was threatened with decay in the meantime.

FC Bayern Munich saved it and turned it into the Audi Dome, where basketball is played like it was back then.

The Championships offer 2022: table tennis.

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The Oberschleißheim Regatta with rowing and canoeing is experiencing a roaring comeback.

Recently, the huge grandstand developed in the direction of a "lost place".

As early as 2007 at the World Championships, the (rowing) world press cracked jokes about the morbid charm – because the original television schedules from 1972 were still hanging out.

Tip: They're still here.

The city center will see more of the European Championships than the Olympic Games.

Walking and marathons take place on shuttle and circuit courses around Odeonsplatz, and street cyclists race through the middle of the city.

In 1972 they were still allowed to start and arrive in Grünwald.

In 2022 the noble place will have its rest.