The Cup of the Sokol movement of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia : the sword of King Alexander I

Gavrilović, Dejan (author), Mijatović, Slađana (author), Šiljak, Violeta (author), Pantelić Babić, Kristina M. (author)

In the period between the two world wars, the Sokol movement played an important role in the physical culture of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In order to further develop the Sokol movement, King Alexander donated a sword as a transitional prize for the most successful Sokol team in certain national competitions. The competitions for the Sword of King Alexander took place in 1925, 1930, 1933, 1937 and 1939. The most successful team in all competitions for the Sword of King Alexander was the team of Sokol movement of Ljubljana. Their high quality was confirmed by numerous successes as members of the Yugoslav national team. As members of the Sokol Society of Ljubljana, the winners of the Sword of King Alexander helped to represent the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in gymnastics. They helped the team to a silver medal in the all-around event at the World Championships in Ljubljana in 1922, a fourth place in the team event at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris; a silver medal in the team competition at the 1926 World Championships in Lyon, a bronze medal in the team event at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, a bronze medal in the team event at the 1930 World Championships in Luxembourg, a sixth place in the team event at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and a bronze medal in the team event at the 1938 World Championships in Prague. The competitions for the transitional award "Sword of King Alexander I" contributed significantly to the development of the Sokol movement, sports gymnastics and physical culture in general in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes/Yugoslavia.

• Language: English
• Keywords: sport, physical education, sokol movement, sword of the king, Kindom of Yugoslavia, gymnastics, Socol Society of Ljubljana
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FŠ - Faculty of Sport
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 185-197, 343
• Numbering: Vol. 17, iss. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-183707
• UDC: 796.41
• ISSN on article: 1855-7171
• DOI: 10.52165/sgj.17.2.185-197
• COBISS.SI-ID: 260473347

Copyright

Podatek o licenci CC BY-SA 4.0 je naveden na pristajalni strani članka (glej zgoraj izvorni URL). (Datum opombe: 19. 6. 2026)

• Publication date in RUL: 19.06.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Science of gymnastics journal
• Publisher: University of Ljubljana Press, Slovenia (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)
• ISSN: 1855-7171
• COBISS.SI-ID: 246418176

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Pokal zveze Sokola kraljevine Jugoslavije : meč kralja Alexandra I

Abstract

V obdobju med obema svetovnima vojnama je sokolsko gibanje igralo pomembno vlogo v telesni kulturi Kraljevine Jugoslavije. Za nadaljnji razvoj sokolskega gibanja je kralj Aleksander podaril meč kot prehodno nagrado za najuspešnejšo sokolsko vrsto na nekaterih državnih tekmovanjih. Tekmovanja za meč kralja Aleksandra so potekala v letih 1925, 1930, 1933, 1937 in 1939. Najuspešnejše vrsta na vseh tekmovanjih za meč kralja Aleksandra je bilo moštvo Sokolskega gibanja Ljubljana. Njihovo visoko kakovost so potrdili številni uspehi kot člani jugoslovanske vrste. Kot člani Sokolskega društva Ljubljana so dobitniki meča kralja Aleksandra pomagali zastopati Kraljevino Jugoslavijo v orodni telovadbi. Moštvo so popeljali do srebrnega odličja v mnogoboju na Svetovnem prvenstvu v Ljubljani leta 1922, četrtega mesta na Olimpijskih igrah leta 1924 v Parizu; srebrnega odličja na Svetovnem prvenstvu leta 1926 v Lyonu, bronastega odličja na Olimpijskih igrah leta 1928 v Amsterdamu, bronastega odličja na Svetovnem prvenstvu leta 1930 v Luksemburgu, šestega mesta na Olimpijskih igrah leta 1936 v Berlinu in bronastega odličja na Svetovnem prvenstvu leta 1938 v Pragi. Tekmovanja za prehodno priznanje "Meč kralja Aleksandra I." so pomembno prispevala k razvoju sokolskega gibanja, orodne telovadbe in telesne kulture nasploh v Kraljevini Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev/Jugoslaviji.

• Keywords: šport, gimnastika, telovadba, telesna vzgoja, Sokolsko gibanje, meč kralja, Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Ljubljanski Sokol