The Garden City Velodrome was a

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement ...

located in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. A 400-metre track, it hosted the track

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

events for the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp 1920 (; Dutch language, Dutch and German language, German: ''Antwerpen 1920''), were an international multi-sport event held i ...

and the

UCI Track Cycling World Championships The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are the set of world championship events for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling. They are regulated by the Union Cycliste Internationale. Before 1900, they were administered by the UCI ...

that year.

History

Located in the

Wilrijk Wilrijk (; former, original spelling: ''Wilrijck'') is a district of the municipality and city of Antwerp in the Belgian province of Antwerp. Wilrijk had been a separate municipality before January 1, 1983; the enlarged municipality of Antwerp wa ...

district, the Garden City Velodrome was created to replace the demolished Zurenborg velodrome that was located in the

Zurenborg Zurenborg is an area in south-east Antwerp largely developed between 1894 and 1906 that features a high concentration of townhouses in Art Nouveau and other fin-de-siècle styles.Alex Elaut, ''Zurenborg Walk'', Antwerp: Toerisme Antwerpen, .d. ...

area. The velodrome was ceremonially opened on June 28, 1914, the day of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand of Austria. This sparked a

World War A world war is an international War, conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World War I ...

in which the cycling track was hardly used. After the war, the facility was renovated. The first event held was the finish of the Tour of Belgium on 12 August 1919. On 9-10 August 1920, the track cycling competitions (sprints, tandems, a team race and a 50 km race) were held at the venue as part of the

. Due to high ticket prices, and the participation of only amateurs in the races, these competitions were not very popular. A few days before the Olympic competition, the 23rd World Track Cycling Championships were also held on the track. Three competitions were held at the championships: an individual sprint for amateurs, an individual sprint for professionals and a motor-paced race for professionals. Inside the track, the pitch was also used as a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

field. After 1920, the venue slowly declined in importance, mainly due to the poor condition of the concrete surface and the opening of new cycling tracks in the city. The last race at the track took place on 15 March 1925, and it was demolished shortly afterwards. Residential buildings were subsequently built in its place. In Wilrijk, a street ''Garden Citylaan'' is named after this Olympic velodrome.

References

Sports-reference.com profile of Cycling at the 1920 Summer Olympics.
Buildings and structures completed in 1914 Event venues established in 1914 Sports venues completed in 1914 Venues of the 1920 Summer Olympics Defunct sports venues in Belgium Velodromes in Belgium Olympic cycling venues Sports venues in Antwerp {{Summer-Olympic-venue-stub

History

See also

References