Germany’s Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) has agreed unanimously to draw up a new roadmap for a potential bid to host a future Summer or Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, and to also commit that a general referendum will be held in 2024 allowing the public to decide whether any plans move forward.
DOSB members at their 19th general meeting in Baden-Baden on Saturday reelected president Thomas Weikert who had previously hinted that it was his goal to pursue another Games for the nation, the first since the Summer Games were staged in Munich in 1972. Earlier this year Weikert said Germany could set sights on either the next available Summer Games in 2036 or Winter Games in 2034.
Since last hosting 50 years ago Germany has prepared six unsuccessful bids for subsequent summer and winter editions including Berchtesgaden 1992 and Munich 2018 for the winter edition and Berlin 2000, Leipzig 2012 and Hamburg 2024 for summer. Most recently, a proposed project from the Rhine-Ruhr region to host in 2032 was defeated when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) preemptively named Brisbane, Australia the preferred and only candidate for election following a new bidding process. Another possible bid by Munich to host in 2022 never came to fruition after 52 percent in the city voted against launching a campaign.
The DOSB claim a strong public interest in hosting the Games again exists, pointing to a recent survey showing two-thirds back a potential bid, however seven years ago Hamburg 2024 was snuffed when 51.6 percent said ‘no’ in a referendum.
Under the new IOC bidding rules interested bidders must demonstrate strong public and government support before they are accepted as candidates. German officials intend to campaign throughout 2023 to skew the numbers in a positive direction.
Planned is a “multi-stage strategy process” which “will include a nationwide series of discussion forums with supporters, critics and stakeholders from business, politics, culture and other areas of society” according to a statement released by the DOSB.
“In an open-ended and transparent process, the question of possible details such as when, where or how should be discussed and why,” it added.
Mirroring the proactive dialogue process introduced by the IOC to choose its future hosts, the DOSB will do away with a domestic competitive bid process and instead choose a candidate through dialogue with interested regions.
Possible hosts being mulled are the Rhine-Ruhr region, Hamburg, Berlin and Munich after the Bavarian capital successfully hosted the European Championships earlier this year. But officials are considering joining two or more cites and regions to minimize costs and spread opportunities. A Berlin-Hamburg project has been mooted as the frontrunner.
Critics believe hosting the Games in Germany on the 100th anniversary of the Berlin 1936 Olympics, an event remembered for its use as a propaganda tool by the Nazis ahead of World War II, would be in bad taste and would be rejected by the IOC. Though this is a concern for any German city, the message would be amplified if the Capital were to stage again.
In 2019 then German Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer said “it would be unthinkable” for Berlin to host the Games in 2036.
“If we did that, we would bring on an unspeakable international discussion and harm the Olympic idea.
“How would people see it across the world? Germany celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the Nazi Olympics?
“That cannot happen.”
Already indicating intentions to bid for the 2036 Summer Games are Indonesia, India, United Kingdom, Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, South Korea and Mexico. There is no fixed timetable for the election of future hosts but IOC president Thomas Bach said he will leave the 2032 winter and 2036 summer decisions to his successor after his term ends in 2025.
