Österreich

Exciting sporting facts

River swimming
Although Austria is more famous for mountains than water, swimming has a long tradition in this Alpine country. In as early as 1833, there were baths for women on the shores of the river Danube in the city of Vienna. The baths were shielded from curious onlookers, even though swimming clothes were quite prudish in those days. In 1889, the Viennese Amateur Swimming Club organised the first ever European swimming championships. Races were held over both 68 and 1,598 metres.

Boxing at dizzy heights
On 26th September 1999, Johannes Fuchs from Innsbruck hit a punch bag a total of 39,005 times in 163 rounds at 3 minutes each - whilst at a height of 2,269 metres on Mount Hafelekar!

Longest hand walk ever
In 1990 the Austrian Johann Hurlinger managed to walk the longest distance on hands ever. He "walked" from Vienna to Paris, covering 1,400 kilometres in 55 days at 10 hours each. His average speed was 2.54 km/h.

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