Hamburg’s Mr. Olympia: Application Team Story

Olympic Games not only need the right place and the right concept, but also the people who bring all ideas together. For Hamburg, the Steffen Rülke, which was presented in the town hall as the new head of the Olympic project group on Tuesday. Rülke is quickly clear, a man with a nationwide sports policy experience and a pronounced slope for confidence. “I am firmly convinced: Hamburg can do the Olympics,” he said – and sounded as if he already had the Olympic torch in his hand. Hamburg’s concept is the “most smart and professional”, the Active City strategy “excellent and exemplary for all of Germany”.

As a former department head of sports in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, he was able to gain a nationwide overview. The Hamburg concept is the smartest and most professional for him, said Rülke. Like Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and the Rhein-Ruhr region want to apply for the 2036, 2040 or 2044 Olympics. At the end of May next year, the Hamburgers are to decide. In 2015, a referendum for an application for the organization of the 2024 games in the Hanseatic city failed.

And not all of the fire and flame are still. The left have had their rejection press releases for years “on the button”, it is no different at the BUND Hamburg. In the application, the environmental association sees a CO₂ slingshot rather than a sports festival. Chair Sabine Sommer warns: “Olympic games regularly exceed her budgets by 200 to 300 percent.” And even the Paris Games 2024 caused 1.6 million tons of CO₂. Your balance sheet: “We are an ‘Active City’ without the Olympics.”

The CDU, on the other hand, sees Olympics the chance of a glamorous future. Group leader Dennis Thering demands more enthusiasm and a conclusive concept from the red-green Senate. “SPD and Greens must not gamble away the application,” he warns. Sports politician Ralf Niedmers adds: “Olympics can establish Hamburg as a sports metropolis worldwide.”

Sports economist Wolfgang Maennig, formerly the Olympic rower himself, pleads for a change of perspective: “Do we want to be good hosts and receive the best and most motivated young people in the world?” That is the main question – not whether money can be earned with Olympics. “In my opinion, if you think so, you have forfeited the right to Olympic Games from the outset.”

“An absolute topic of passion”

That fits very well with Rülke’s ideas. For him, Olympia is an “absolute topic of suffering” and much more than “just a sporting event,” said Rülke. There is no other event where so many people from all over the world come together. “Which city would be more suitable than the cosmopolitan and liberal Hamburg?” He asked. Hamburg was committed to sport with the “Active City Strategy” after the referendum failed in 2015. With high investments and growth rates in the clubs, the Hamburg strategy is “excellent and exemplary for all of Germany,” said Rülke. The Olympic acquisition is therefore only logical.

Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) is also optimistic. The IOC has reformed, he says. No more expensive new buildings, but use of existing sports facilities. 87 percent of them are already available in Hamburg – or would be built anyway. Sounds good. And the federal government also promised its support. Sounds even better.

38 disciplines in Hamburg are planned, plus sailing, handball and rugby in Kiel. The opening ceremony should take place on the Inner Alster – with five platforms in Olympic ring formation. The Olympic village is planned in the Science City. And somewhere in between, a hyperloop route to Kiel should also be created. At least according to the application concept. In reality, there are only test routes in Emden and Ottobrunn. But you can dream.

Kieler should vote in April

Kiel also wants to play along – at least when sailing. On April 19, 2026, the population should vote there by citizens’ decision whether the city should again apply as a venue for Olympic sailing competitions. Sports department Gerwin Stöcken speaks of “planning security”. The exact question of the referendum is still pending. Kiel would be an Olympic sailing location for the third time – after 1936 and 1972. And: As early as 2015, 65.57 percent voted for an application. In the end it failed at Hamburg. Is it going differently this time? This depends on many factors: costs, concept, communication. And maybe also whether Hamburg manages to describe the games as something that remains when the flame has long since gone out.