The European Championships in Munich should be a start-up aid for a new German Olympic application. But after many application failures, the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) needs patience.
At the beginning of July, Thomas Bach stopped by Munich again. He stuck his head through one of the Olympic rings on the new sculpture in the Olympic Park and smiled for the cameras. At the opening event marking the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Summer Games, the German President of the International Olympic Committee said he hoped “that we can experience that again in our country”.
However, it is uncertain whether the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held in Germany again during Bach’s lifetime, even if the 68-year-old should “Lord of the rings” enjoy a very long and fulfilling life.
Even if in Munich, where thousands of athletes are currently gathering for the European Championships, there is once again an Olympic mood: Germany is very far from becoming an Olympic host. This is also due to the fact that German sport in the past half century has screwed up hardly anything more thoroughly than its Olympic bids.
Seven failed applications since 1986
After hosting the Games in 1972, the application campaigns of Berchtesgaden 1992 (in 1986), Berlin 2000 (1993), Leipzig 2012 (2004), Munich 2018 (2011), Munich 2022 (2013), Hamburg 2024 (2015) and Rhein/ Ruhr 2032 (2021) more or less carelessly hit the wall.
At the latest after the debacle last year in North Rhine-Westphalia, when some of those involved in the campaign apparently learned from the media that the IOC had long since decided on Brisbane, Australia, the usual public debates fell silent.
Beyond the basic question of whether an application makes sense in general, the standard questions were hardly ever heard: when does an application make sense? For which year and in which region? Summer or winter games? Can you also apply for 2036, 100 years after the Nazi Games in Berlin?
DOSB wants a sustainable concept
The number of those who, in view of the pandemic, war, inflation and energy crisis, are currently longing for the Olympics on their doorstep should not be very large. The German Olympic Sports Confederation knows that too. Because the umbrella organization, even under the new President Thomas Weikert, regards an Olympic bid as a kind of end in itself, the dream goal is being pursued. But the crisis situation and the lack of backing from politics and society are forcing those responsible to plan for the long term. Very long term.
Bentele: “Involve the people”
“If we have a concept that involves people, that is sustainable, then we will also be able to generate enthusiasm for the Olympic and Paralympic Games here. And that is our job now and we will work on it.”says DOSB Vice President Verena Bentele of the sports show.
Events such as the European Championships, but also the Special Olympics in Berlin 2023, the European Football Championship 2024 or the Universiade in North Rhine-Westphalia 2025 should help to rekindle enthusiasm for the Olympics. According to Bentele, the ongoing multi-EM in Munich is already one “Reference event”which should show: “We really have it.”
Improve relations with the IOC
But apart from the basic commitment to an Olympic application, little concrete information can be heard from the DOSB at the moment. First of all, the image cultivation should have an effect not only nationally but also internationally. Feverish efforts are being made behind the scenes to improve relations with the IOC and key players in the Rings world. They had suffered serious damage during the tenure of Weikert’s predecessor, Alfons Hörmann, who even tangled with Bach personally in the course of the Rhine-Ruhr evacuation.
But even if the climate between the umbrella organizations improves again, there are things outside of the DOSB’s sphere of influence that the IOC should dislike about Germany: a very uncomfortable independent athletes’ representation, IOC-critical media and a society in which a majority in citizen surveys Olympia is anything but a matter of course.
No German Olympic bid without a referendum
The last two referendums led to the premature end of the Munich 2022 and Hamburg 2024 initiatives. And the current coalition agreement between the SPD, Greens and FDP clearly states that the population should be involved in a possible new application process. Means: no new application without a pro-Olympic referendum.
bentele says “The will of everyone involved, the political leaders, the sports associations and the people in the country” should decide “when Germany is ready for an application”. She would, says the 40-year-old Paralympic winner, Olympic and Paralympic Games in Germany “definitely like to experience”. But although Bentele is considerably younger than Bach, she cannot be sure.