Germany’s Olympic plan is not going well, but it offers excitement. IOC President Bach snubs the DOSB and Markus Söder’s statements cause unrest.
IOC President Thomas Bach gave Germany’s Olympic bid a blow in the neck – certainly not coincidentally in the run-up to the general meeting of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) on Saturday (December 7th, 2024) in Saarbrücken. No chance for Germany, he told the “FAZ” on Thursday, as long as the federal government does not issue visas for athletes from Russia and Belarus.
Futile discussions?
Bach’s International Olympic Committee always insists on the autonomy of sport, emphasizing its supposedly unifying power across all conflicts in the world. This is what the DOSB also writes in response to a sports show request: “Over the past few months, we have repeatedly pointed out, both internally and externally, that recognition of the autonomy of sport by the current federal government forms an important basis for the application.”
This sentence reads differently than what Thomas Bach has now said in public: As long as the visa issue is not clarified, “There is no need to discuss hosting the Olympic Games any further.”. The DOSB has done exactly this intensively in the past few months, with politicians, civil servants, sports officials, citizens and potential sponsors. How many of them were aware of the IOC’s clear no?
DOSB President Thomas Weikert and IOC President Thomas Bach (r.)
“Beginning of 2025” becomes “in 2025”
It is the next setback for the DOSB on the way to the long-awaited application for the Summer Games in 2036 or 2040 – or perhaps 2044. The umbrella organization is already lagging behind its own schedule. Instead of voting on a specific concept on Saturday as planned, the members should now give their okay for the DOSB to enter into the so-called continuous dialogue with the IOC – and thereby officially express Germany’s interest.
This item on the program now seems quite strange, and the last-minute change in the proposed resolution doesn’t help. Instead of “Early 2025” you want now “in 2025” enter into ongoing dialogue with the IOC. The DOSB writes that this change was made with a view to the political situation in the federal government and the upcoming elections in February.
DOSB does not have it in its own hands
It is unclear how much vigor a new government will push ahead with Olympic plans. How the Russian question will be dealt with is also open. If Friedrich Merz (CDU) becomes Chancellor, given his express support for Ukraine, it seems difficult to imagine that he would allow visas for Russian athletes in the near future.
One thing is certain: the DOSB currently does not have it in its own hands to make a promising bid for the Olympics.
Well, just an Olympic village
The association recently changed its route. Instead of a Germany-wide application or a merger of several cities, it now boils down to one center and its region. The DOSB follows the “One Village-Principle” wants a large Olympic village in which as many athletes as possible can accommodate.
This means: The solution is not Berlin AND Munich, but rather Berlin OR Munich – or the Rhine-Ruhr region. The interested parties Hamburg and Leipzig seem to be left out due to the new DOSB prioritization. Instead of an amicable solution, there is now a threat of an elimination competition. Markus Söder (CSU) gave a foretaste of what that could look like.
Söder and the “Kungelei” in the Rhineland
Bavaria’s Prime Minister said such a thing in an interview with Sportschau “Battle” will end up “probably even do harm”. In the same interview, Söder spoke of a possible one “Kungelei” in the Rhineland. “You know that a bit, they’re known for such strange things. They always say, I can’t judge it from a distance.”
Söder said this with a view to possible conflicts of interest: The DOSB board chairman Torsten Burmester, who has now been dismissed, is running for the SPD as mayor of Cologne. And Michael Mronz, whom he values very much, as Söder emphasized, was the idea behind the Rhine-Ruhr application for the 2032 Olympic Games – and is now an IOC member and therefore also sits on the DOSB presidium.
LSB boss Klett: Söder’s behavior “impossible”
In the Rhineland, Söder’s comments were anything but well received, at least not by Stefan Klett. “I find his behavior impossible to publicly discredit other interested parties”said the President of the State Sports Association of North Rhine-Westphalia to the Sportschau. “Demanding the autonomy of sport, but actively talking about it – this is like preaching water and drinking wine. I don’t know whether he has done the Munich bid a favor by doing so.”
The elimination competition seems to have begun. What will also be exciting is the question of how much money local authorities, states and the federal government still want to invest in an application that currently has no chance of success.