The German sport authority (DOSB) Monday evening selected Hamburg over rival Berlin to bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games.
The DOSB met in Frankfurt over the weekend and on Monday listened to 15 minute presentations from delegates of both Hamburg and Berlin’s bid, and after further deliberations the eight-member panel voted to elect Hamburg to represent Germany as a potential host city for the Olympics.
It was a majority decision, DOSB President Alfons Horman revealed at a press conference.
Germany last hosted the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972 that were most remembered for the horrific terrorist attack against the Israeli team. The Games were also hosted in Berlin in 1936. Leipzig and Berlin recently unsuccessfully bid for the Summer Games – in 2012 and 2000 respectively.
The choice by DOSB executives still needs to be approved by an Extraordinary General Assembly of the DOSB in Frankfurt on Saturday, March 21, but this process is unlikely to alter the decision.
Hamburg’s bid was presented to the DOSB by Senator for Interior and Sport Michael Neumann.
Berlin’s bid was led by Frank Henkel, the city’s Senator for Interior and Sport.
According to a recent telephone poll of Hamburg residents on whether they support their city in a bid for the 2024 Olympic Games, Hamburg had 64 per cent support against Berlin’s 55 per cent, but officials deny that this was the only criteria used to arrive at the decision. Hamburg’s compact venue plan was cited as one of the most attractive elements of the bid.
“Hamburg has presented a fascinating and compact Olympic concept. It will help Hamburg grow as a north German – as a north European metropolis,” Hormann said.
Hamburg will hold a referendum shortly before the September 15 International Olympic Committee (IOC) bid deadline, according to local media reports last month. In 2013, Germany’s bid for the 2022 Olympic Games in Munich was cancelled less than a week before the deadline after the host city voters defeated referendums designed to show support for the bid.
Hamburg, if ratified by the DOSB assembly, will enter the race against confirmed opponents Boston and Rome. Other bids from Paris, and possibly Budapest, Baku, Istanbul and others are also expected to be confirmed over the next several weeks during the (IOC) invitation phase.
