Sport/Contemporary period

Contemporary period

Pardubice citizens actively engage in some 30 branches of sport; most people spend their free time on football, activities within the ASPV (Association for Sports for Everybody) , small football, tennis, tourism, basketball, hockeyball, swimming and ice hockey.

Ice hockey, i.e. the sport with more than an 80-year tradition in the town, is the most often watched sport at present. The extra-league team (now HC Moeller Pardubice, formerly called Dynamo or Tesla) has already won 4 championship titles and is one of the most successful teams in the extra league. The average numbers of visitors coming to see the matches are the highest from all extra-league clubs. No doubt this is also due in part to the large reconstruction of the winter stadium originally to the Rainbow and later ČEZ arena in 2001. The arena provides 10 thousand spectators with a comfortable environment not only for watching sports fixtures.

When the town bought the strip flooring to the arena for hall sports in 2006, it also considerably enhanced possibilities for basketball, floorball and futsal players in Pardubice; they play their extra-league matches here. Matches of representative teams are not an exception either: e.g. the hall was the place where the qualification match for promotion to the world futsal championship in 2008, all 3 national qualification matches of the Czech basketball representation for promotion to the European championship in 2009 and others were played. The team from Nymburk also plays matches for European basketball cups in the arena.

Although the arena has been designed and used as multi-purpose, training conditions for hall sports, above all floorball, handball and futsal, are rather modest and the clubs must use sports facilities in other towns – Heřmanův Městec, Chrudim, Chlumec n/C and others – in many cases. Simply speaking, Pardubice does not have a sports hall for hall sports for the time being.

The history of the Pardubická juniorka (Pardubice tennis tournament of juniors) – CR Championship of juniors organised on LTC Pardubice tennis courts each year exceeds 80 years. In the past this famous tournament was won by such well-known tennis players as Kodeš, Lendl, Korda, Berdych, Mandlíková or Novotná.

The Czech Open tournament, an international festival of chess, bridge and table games, in which several thousand domestic as well as foreign players, including chess grand masters, take part every year, has made Pardubice famous in the last ten years. It is just this number of participants that makes this tournament rank among the largest events of its kind in the world.

The Aviatic Fair organised in honour of Jan Kašpar, the promoter of aviation from Pardubice, is an event of a great importance; tens of thousands of aviation fans meet at the Pardubice airport every year.

Athletes from Pardubice use the Town Athletic Stadium which has also undergone a costly reconstruction. Its 400-metre-long polytane track with all sectors changed the originally obsolete cinder oval to a track of European parameters, but unfortunately a better background for spectators and above all for sportsmen is still missing. Despite this fact, the stadium is a place where sports competitions of national importance are held, for both athletes and handicapped athletes.

The sports grammar school in Pardubice with more than a 20-year-old tradition has an important position among Pardubice sports. Such future stars like Olympic winners Martin Doktor and Milan Hejduk, Jakub Hanák – a holder of an Olympic medal, or Jiří Welsch, a member of the famous NBA and basketball representative not long ago, also went through this facility.

Swimming disciplines occupy an important position among sport branches; the swimming facility at Olšinky with a diving pool, a 50-metre pool as well as a training pool for non-swimmers serves for systematic preparation of swimmers or divers. Nevertheless this sports facility will undergo a demanding reconstruction in the near future because neither the technology used nor the technical condition of the building itself is of an adequate level.

The aforementioned facility is also used by recreational swimmers as well, together with its outdoor pool with water attractions and beaches used in summer.

The open air pool complex at Cihelna is designed as a summer facility with outdoor pools, sliding chutes, mini-golf and other attractions for free-time activities.

You cannot talk about Pardubice without mentioning horse races. The local racecourse does not only mean the Great Pardubice Steeplechase, but also a number of quality horse races and riding competitions that are organised here from May till September. The international exhibition “Horses in Action” is then a speciality for lovers of horses and riding held every year.

The flat areas surrounding Pardubice directly encourage undemanding cycling trips; no wonder that free-time cycling has gained in popularity, witnessed here by the dense network of cycling routes and cycling paths.

In-line skaters going through Pardubice streets is an event for the general public known under the name “Pardubice on in-line skates”. Lovers of this activity can go through town streets without any risk of a collision with a car. In the period of its existence the event has significantly gained in popularity.