Spartakiad (Czechoslovakia)

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Spartakiad
1965 Spartakiad
Status	Inactive
Genre	Sports event
Location(s)	Prague
Country	Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
Inaugurated	1955 (1955)
Most recent	1990 (1990)
Sponsor	Communist Party of Czechoslovakia

The Spartakiads or Spartakiades^[1] in Czechoslovakia (Czech and Slovak: Spartakiáda) were mass gymnastics events, designed to celebrate the Red Army's liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945.^[2] The name refers to the 1921 Prague Spartakiad organised by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.^[3] They were organised by the Communist government as a replacement of the similar Sokol gatherings, which were disapproved by the regime and discontinued after World War II.^[4] The Spartakiads took place at the Strahov Stadium, the largest stadium ever built and the venue of the last pre-war Sokol gathering.^[5] Most of the organisers of the Spartakiads were former Sokol officials.^[3]

The first Spartakiad took place in 1955, and was subsequently held every five years.^[2] The Spartakiad scheduled for 1970 was canceled in the wake of the Prague Spring and the beginning of normalization.^[6] Preparations for the 1990 Spartakiad were interrupted by the Velvet Revolution, but the event still took place as the "Prague Sports Games", albeit on a much smaller scale than the previous ones.^[7]

The Spartakiads involved large numbers of people; for example, at the 1960 Spartakiad about 750,000 gymnasts from the whole country took part and over 2,000,000 spectators witnessed the event.^[8] The last major edition in 1985 saw around 160,000 people perform across fifteen demonstrations.^[9]

Before each Spartakiad, local Spartakiads were held, with juries selecting the best gymnasts from each region for the national event.^[9] Men and women of all ages practiced and performed exercise routines. Appearance was originally mandatory for students and servicemen of the armed forces and police.^[10] During the Normalization years, it became more voluntary.^[11]

The 1985 Spartakiad notably originated the Michal David pop song Poupata (Flower Buds), which remains popular in the Czech Republic today^[12] and inspired a 2011 film of the same name.^[13]

• Mass games
• Spartakiad
• World Gymnaestrada