Antwerp Sportpaleis
The Belgian architectural marvel has witnessed both triumph and tragedy
When the owners of the Antwerp Sportpaleis opened the doors for a regular race meeting on Saturday 29, September 1956, they could not have imagined the catastrophic event that would mean the name of their famous arena would soon be splashed across the front pages of Belgium’s newspapers.
“Tragic and fatal crash during Saturday’s meeting at the Antwerp Sportpaleis,” ran the headline on the front page of the Gazet van Antwerpen two days later. “Stan Ockers died this morning.”
Ockers was a legend in Belgium, winner of the Ardennes weekend and the World Championships in 1955. He was leading the race at the Sportpaleis when he suffered a sickening collision with fellow Belgian, Nest Sterckx. Ockers fractured his skull and died two days later. His body was laid out in the Sportpaleis where hundreds of thousands came to pay their respects.
Construction of the Sportpaleis started in January 1932 and took 21 months to complete. At the time it was the largest indoor arena in Europe. At its centre was a 250m-long wooden track, built by the famous velodrome builders Apostel- mampaey from the nearby town of Boom, and surrounded by seating for 12,000 spectators.
The first event at the arena was held on October 1, 1933. Among the winners that day was the Olympic and amateur world champion sprinter, Jacques Van Egmond. Four months later the Sportpaleis hosted Antwerp’s first six-day meet.
Riders who won the
Antwerp Six at the
Sportpaleis include Ockers,
Rik Van Steenbergen, Rik
Van Looy, Peter Post, Patrick
Sercu and Eddy Merckx.
Another world champion to ride the boards at the Sportpaleis was Yvonne Reynders. At the time women were not allowed on the track and so Reynders dressed as a man, fake moustache and all, and went training. When she was discovered, the arena director, Louis De Winter, wanted her to leave. It took more
“It took 21 months to complete Europe’s largest indoor arena”
than half an hour for someone to catch her.
The last part of the Sportpaleis’s cycling track was removed during renovation work in 2013. Today it is best known as a music and entertainment venue.