DOSB boss Thomas Weikert (l.) and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser both want the Olympics in Germany, but are not working together yet.
Photo: dpa/Thomas Frey
Thomas Weikert raised the volume of his voice again. A rhetorical trick that he apparently used for the media representatives in the last row of the large hall of the Kap Europa Hotel in the center of Frankfurt am Main, because he had to be told by the delegates sitting in front of them at the general meeting of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB). Saturday morning doesn’t really convince anyone anymore. “We want the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Germany,” said the DOSB President at the end of his speech, noticeably louder into the microphone on his lectern. A few moments later, the more than 400 delegates from various sports associations voted unanimously for the “Frankfurt Declaration,” in which they commissioned the DOSB to develop a concept for a German Olympic bid.
Weikert knows that the rest of the local population is not so unanimously convinced of the games. Despite a self-commissioned Forsa survey, according to which a majority in Germany is currently in favor of an application, Weikert said: “Only if sport and federal politics act together do we have a chance of convincing the population.” The DOSB trusts Apparently there are no such surveys anymore. After all, there had been such before people rejected the applications from Munich and Hamburg in referendums last decade.
Skepticism about the Olympics had reached its peak following corruption scandals and gigantic spending. Mainly with the argument that profits would be privatized and losses socialized, the Olympic movement was repeatedly able to stop applications throughout Europe through citizen surveys. So it is understandable that the DOSB took a new path a year ago. Since then, discussions have been held with citizens in dialogue forums in the possible host cities of Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Leipzig and Munich.
However, interest was extremely low. In Hamburg, less than 100 people came to debate. Participation seemed pointless, especially for those involved in the Olympics. What should be discussed if there is no concept yet? For its part, the DOSB did not want to be accused again of making decisions bypassing the citizens.
The concept is now being developed, which will probably result in an official application at the next meeting at the end of 2024. Everything is based on the “Frankfurt Declaration”, which, as the DOSB emphasized several times, takes people’s wishes and criticism seriously. The Olympics in Germany should provide impetus for modernized public transport, accessibility, renovation of sports facilities for popular sports and reduction of bureaucracy. Olympic villages should create “living space for everyone”. For the sake of the environment, large new buildings are also being avoided completely, and of course everything has to be sustainable.
Since no German city alone offers this, the DOSB wants to apply with several regions: There is already an Olympic stadium for track and field athletes in Berlin, a whitewater facility for canoeists in Markleeberg near Leipzig, triathletes are at home in Hamburg, the Ruhr area has huge stadiums and Halls for team sports. The time when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) valued short distances is over anyway. So the DOSB sees opportunities with this concept.
But important questions remain vague or completely unanswered. Also, which edition is preferred? 2036 or 2040? Many people are currently speaking out against holding the event 100 years after the Nazi propaganda games in Berlin in 1936, especially in the capital itself. Nevertheless, the adopted DOSB statement says: “An application for 2036 must be made because these are the next games are awarded by the IOC.” Only after repeated nd inquiries did DOSB President Weikert admit that an application only for 2040 was “of course also conceivable” if the people rejected it in 2036. However, dancing at two weddings is preferred.
The DOSB believes it is an opportunity, a century after 1936, to present Germany as a democratic, modern and cosmopolitan country that deals responsibly with its past. This would also offer the opportunity for sensitive communication of German history, “especially to younger generations.” You can support such a point of view, but you would have to make it the central selling point if you don’t want to appear half-hearted. Instead it reads: “Sport must be the focus of an application, not the culture of remembrance.” This makes it difficult for even supporters to promote the idea.
This also applies to local decision-makers. It has been true for years that many Germans want the Olympics, but please not on their own doorstep. Since the acclaimed European Championships in Munich in 2022, there have been some who would like to see the games in their own city. But as long as it is not clear which cities will be put into the running, no enthusiasm can be developed. It is not for nothing that former cycling president Sylvia Schenk described the previous plans as “bloodless in terms of content and emotion”. It seems unrealistic that the whole of Germany from Hamburg to Munich and from Düsseldorf to Berlin will actually be there. This question should probably also be clarified by the summer.
The DOSB remains particularly vague when it comes to the topic of popular votes. “The question of citizens’ referendums must be considered and evaluated by politics and sport after an application and participation concept has been drawn up,” it says nebulously in the concept. Even in several speeches about the Olympic bid in Frankfurt, Weikert didn’t say a word about this question.
Neither does Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD). In any case, the government representative responsible for sport preferred to leave out a few points that could have sparked discussions. In contrast to the cities mentioned, the federal government has still not signed a “memorandum of understanding”. However, there is only a chance at the IOC if there is a contractually agreed commitment from the government. This became clear again this week when the IOC executive rejected Sweden’s 2030 bid because of a lack of “public and political support.” Although Stockholm had raised its thumb shortly before the decision, it still wanted to examine the application concept.
Too little, too late for the IOC, it seems. And so it won’t be enough that Faeser assured the delegates in Frankfurt: “Many in Germany will be asking themselves: ‘Now also the Olympics?’ To that I say: Yes! The federal government is in favor of a strong application, and we will support the DOSB in this.” The problem is the constitutional court ruling, which has created a gap in the federal treasury. The federal government is therefore putting the Olympic project on hold for now. So the DOSB is initially paying 1.7 million euros for the previous application process from its own resources, even though a division was planned. DOSB President Weikert was convinced on Saturday that this will be clarified by the presentation of the application concept in summer 2024 at the latest. “In fact, there is no disagreement,” he said.
It will be exciting to see whether the DOSB will keep its promises: it promises games “with a realistic and binding cost cap.” The budget must determine the planning, not the other way around. They would be the first games in many years whose costs would ultimately not exceed the original plans.
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