What would sports be without spectators?
They are the ones who turn sport into an event, a spectacle, a celebration. Sports without festivals is like theatre without an audience: Spartakiads, gymnastics festivals, EuroGames, Gay Games – all these events have a celebratory character. Athletes display their skills, their performance, they perform. The audience applauds, cheers, and motivates. Whether on an international, national, or regional level, sports festivals are an integral part of sports. Sometimes we celebrate achievements, sometimes we celebrate sports heroes, and sometimes we celebrate ourselves.
But who is this “we” in sports? Sports is often referred to as the “performance of society.” So, when we analyze sports festivals – both historically and in the present – we learn something about a society’s self-image. This is also true for the sports festival here at Ballhaus Ost.
The exhibits on display here belong to the collection of the Sportmuseum Berlin, which has been located in the Olympic Park since 1997. Home to more than 10,000 objects and 1.5 million images, it boasts one of the most diverse and largest sports collections in Germany. The Sportmuseum Berlin is currently developing a permanent exhibition, which will be displayed in the Maifeldtribüne in the Olympic Park. The exhibition is slated to open in the summer of 2026.
