The regatta facility, including the grandstand, has been a listed building since 2018.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
Olympic gold was also awarded in Oberschleißheim in September 1972. The start of the rowing and canoeing competitions of the Munich Games is on the territory of the state capital – the largest part of the route, the infrastructure and grandstands and especially the finish line are on Oberschleißheimer Flur. In a cloak and dagger operation, this part of the Olympic program from Königsdorf, with which Munich had entered the bid, was moved to Oberschleißheim/Feldmoching; 2.8 million cubic meters of soil had to be excavated for the 2,230 meter long and 140 meter wide regatta trough.
The history of the regatta course and even more its 50-year history following the Games is now documented in a new work by the cultural association “Freunde von Schleissheim”. Local historian Otto Bürger, who himself collected tickets and signatures of the athletes from the Olympic Games at the time, has compiled more than a hundred pages into a bound book on the history of the facility. From the sporting results to the visit of Prince Rainier III. and Princess Grace of Monaco, the autumn days are treated 50 years ago.
Bürger pays a lot of attention to the time after. World championships, world cups, German championships in rowing and canoeing have been sporting highlights ever since, and there has also been colorful life on the spacious facility from go-kart races to a triathlon in the mud to bungee jumping and many more ideas. The rowing competitions of the “European Championships” in summer are now the next highlight in history. In 2018, the entire complex was listed as a monument – and the future is still at stake, the investment volume for a necessary renovation and future maintenance.
Otto Bürger: “50 Years of the Olympic Regatta Course”, edition of 200 copies, 23 euros, available from Otto Bürger, telephone 089/315 11 57, e-mail [email protected].