Gymnasts and other top athletes are still waiting in vain for the training halls that have been promised for years
PRESS RELEASE ON AUDIT NO 24/08 – 8 December 2025
Sports facilities such as the Věra Čáslavská National Training Centre, planned since 2018, and the Juliska sports hall, which was supposed to be completed by 2024, have not yet been built. These were key investments in ministerial sports centres, specifically the OLYMP Sports Centre of the Ministry of the Interior and the DUKLA Army Sports Centre. Between 2019 and 2023, both centres received a total of CZK 3.9 billion from the state budget for operations and investments. Of this, CZK 3.4 billion was used for operations, such as salaries and travel expenses. Less than CZK 0.5 billion was spent on investments. The management of OLYMP used the money intended for national team athletes to go on 19 trips abroad, e.g., to the Olympic Games in France or the Summer Universiade in China. OLYMP paid a total of CZK 724,000 for these trips. Eighteen of these trips were taken by the director of the centre. This was discovered by the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) in an audit focused on funds earmarked for the activities of the sports centres of the Ministry of the Interior (MoI) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
One of the key investments was the construction of the Věra Čáslavská National Training Centre. The construction was to cost a total of CZK 630 million and was to include a gymnastics hall, a training hall, changing rooms, and facilities for coaches. In 2018, OLYMP spent more than CZK 580,000 on a conceptual study, which was to be the first step towards construction. The SAO considers these funds to have been spent ineffectively, as OLYMP has not started the planned construction even six years after the conceptual study was completed.
Similarly, the MoD, through DUKLA, did not complete the construction of the Juliska sports complex. Of the planned investment of CZK 375.3 million, the largest part was to be the construction of a sports hall for CZK 230 million. The hall was to be used for training athletes and organising competitions in handball, basketball, floorball, and other sports. It was supposed to be built between 2020 and 2024, which did not happen. However, the MoD spent CZK 8.4 million on the project documentation for the hall. The SAO also considers this money to have been spent ineffectively, as the documentation has not yet been used and, according to the SAO, will not be used. Over time, there has been a significant increase in planned costs of more than CZK 261 million (i.e., 115%) compared to the original amount, partly as a result of changes in project requirements.
The SAO audit also revealed that the director of OLYMP in particular travelled abroad to various sporting events, including the Olympic Games, using funds earmarked exclusively for the preparation of national team athletes. Between April 2023 and August 2024, OLYMP spent more than CZK 724,000 on 19 trips abroad by its management (18 trips by the director and one trip by his deputy). For example, in 2024, the director repeatedly travelled to France for the Olympic Games, which cost the centre CZK 225,000. OLYMP paid another CZK 115,000 in 2023 for a trip from the United Kingdom to China and then back to the Czech Republic. However, this trip was also unrelated to the centre’s activities. According to the SAO, foreign trips represent expenses that indicate a violation of budgetary discipline.
OLYMP also spent funds on promotion in an ineffective manner. From January 2019 to May 2023, it paid CZK 1.7 million for the purchase of photographs and the production of wall and desk calendars. OLYMP donated the purchased calendars to employees of the MoI and sports associations. Their production thus did not serve to prepare the national sports team or create conditions for the development of sporting talent, which is the fundamental mission of ministerial sports centers. One of the reasons for these shortcomings was that the centers were guided by the 2015 operating principles, which had not been updated until September 2024 and did not reflect changes in the Sports Act.
During the audit, the SAO contacted the supreme audit institutions of European countries with a request for information concerning the integration of sports centers into the state structure, their financing, and their activities. It received responses from nine institutions, which showed that only four countries, i.e., less than half, have ministerial sports centers.
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office