Antonín "Toni" Šváb Jr. (born 9 June 1974) is a former

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

rider from the Czech Republic. He earned 4 international caps for the

Czech Republic national speedway team The Czech Republic national speedway team is one of the major teams in international motorcycle speedway. History As Czechoslovakia The Czechoslovakia speedway team (which consisted predominantly of Czech Republic riders) competed in the ina ...

Career

Šváb first rode in the British leagues in 1994 after signing for

Exeter Falcons The Exeter Falcons were a Motorcycle speedway, speedway team based in the city of Exeter. The Falcons operated from 1947 to 2005 at the County Ground Stadium in Exeter. History Origins & 1920s Speedway began at the County Ground in 1929, ...

. Later in 1996, he rode for

Middlesbrough Bears The Middlesbrough Bears were a British speedway team which operated under various names from 1929 until their closure in 1996. History Origins and 1920s Speedway arrived in Middlesbrough during 1928 when an attendance of 15,000 turned up f ...

. Šváb won a silver medal in the

1999 Speedway World Team Cup The 1999 Speedway World Team Cup was the 40th edition of the FIM Speedway World Team Cup to determine the team world champions. The final took place at the Svítkov Stadium in Pardubice in the Czech Republic. The winners were the Australia t ...

for the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. He has entered in three Individual Under-21 World Championship finals (1993–1995) and has started in the

Speedway Grand Prix Speedway Grand Prix are a series of stand-alone motorcycle speedway events over the course of a season used to determine the Speedway World Champion. The series started in 1995 replacing the previous format of a single event final. The first ...

and the

Speedway World Cup The Speedway World Cup is a motorcycle speedway event for national teams held in different countries. The first edition of the competition in the current format was held in 2001 and replaced the old Speedway World Team Cup, World Team Cup which ...

. In 2001, he won the Argentine Championship. On 8 January 2006 Šváb suffered very serious accident during a race in Argentina. He spent a month in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

on life support and after recovery remained partially paralyzed on his left side, his short-term memory was damaged and eventually was given partial invalid retirement. In the middle of 2008, reflecting worsened health situation, Šváb decided to end his sport activities.2008 interview with Šváb after his decision to leave racing world
(in Czech)

Family

Šváb's father,

Antonín Šváb Sr. Antonín Šváb Sr. (12 June 1932 – 21 November 2014) was a Czech international speedway rider, representing Czechoslovakia. Speedway career Antonín Šváb Sr. was an Individual Ice Speedway World Championship world champion winning the 19 ...

, also a speedway rider, was the winner of the Individual Ice Racing World Champion title in 1970.

Career details

World Championships

Individual Speedway World Championship The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest-ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world, run under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first official championsh ...

and

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

- 29th place (2 pts in one event) **

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

- 40th place (2 pts in one event) * Team World Championship (

Speedway World Team Cup The Speedway World Team Cup was an annual motorcycle speedway, speedway event held each year in different countries. The competition started in 1960 and was replaced with the Speedway World Cup in 2001. Format From 1960 until 1985, each team c ...

and

) ** ''

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

- 4th place in Group A'' **

Pardubice Pardubice (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 inhabitants. It is the capital city of the Pardubice Region and lies on the Elbe River. The historic centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Repub ...

- Runner-up (0 pts) ** ''

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

- 3rd place in Semi Final'' **

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

- - 6th place (4 pts in Race-off) * Individual U-21 World Championship **

- 9th place (7 pts) **

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

Elgane Elgane is a motorcycle speedway and motocross stadium near Varhaug in Norway. The stadium is situated approximately 6 kilometres east of Varhaug, on the Elgane road. The venue has previously been listed as being part of Stavanger but although b ...

- 10th place (5 pts) **

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

- 12th place (4 pts)

European Championships

* Individual European Championship **

Slaný Slaný (; ) is a town in Kladno District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 17,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones, ur ...

- 11th place (6 pts) * European Club Champions' Cup **

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

- Runner-up (11 pts) for PSK Olymp Prague **

Diedenbergen Hofheim (; officially known as Hofheim am Taunus) is the administrative centre of Main-Taunus-Kreis district, in the south of the German state of Hesse. Its population in September 2020 was 39,946. Geography Location The town is located on the ...

- 4th place (6 pts) for PSK Olymp Prague

References