It was a sporting task in the Bundestag committee for sports and volunteering. The four potential Olympic applicants were guests on Wednesday, a “highlight”, said chairwoman Aydan Özoguz. After the introductory round, the candidates should carry out how their concept take people in Germany with them and with which the International Olympic Committee (IOC) should achieve, specifically with which unique selling point.
Finally, as Stephan Mayer (CSU) said, the bait had to taste the fish and not the angler. However, because Mayer’s attempt on the question had been so long, only a little more than four minutes remained in the politically strict -based time – for all four. A fight against the clock.
Berlin, Hamburg, Munich or Rhein-Ruhr?
To briefly summarize the result at least the second task: Berlin, City of Opposites and Contradictions, but also the association. That, said Olympic representative Kaweh Niroomand, is the spirit of the application with the support of four other federal states, “bring people together, hold together and some”, especially in these times.
Hamburg, the compact, but also the beautiful, with the opening ceremony at the Inner Alster as an “absolute unique selling point”, as indoor and sports senator Andy Grote raved, a combination of stadium and city feeling, as it only gave them in Hamburg.
Munich, a good host for the Olympic Spirit for more than 50 years,, according to the Mayor Verena Dietl, also received the one-Village idea and the short distances by preserving the 1972 Olympic area, the beauty was no longer required.
And finally Rhein-Ruhr: “The biggest stage for your greatest moment”, as State Secretary Andrea Milz packed in a sentence, which should take place in front of a total of 14 million viewers (including the Paralympic Games) in arenas such as the “Aquatics Dome” on Schalke or the Olympic Stadium to be built. “The Powerhouse of True Sports” (German: the power center of the true sport) – the slogan already shows that not only is it great in NRW.
The representatives of the people listened intently, but even more than for these appetizers, who were naturally moved with a pinch of flavor enhancers, they should have been interested in something else: how the bait comes to fish at all. The IOC. The selection of the applicant and the process control lies in the hands of the German Olympic Sports Association (DOSB). So far, however, it had not presented himself very gripping, even for the taste of politics.
Otto Fricke is pace
On Wednesday, another wind blew through the house. For the first time, the new CEO Otto Fricke spoke for the DOSB, since September 1st he has been working in this role and is no stranger: as a budgetary spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group and previously chairman of the budget committee. Fricke knows how to turn the political clock: by taking pace when speaking. His quick pass through motifs and procedures gave an impression that should also have liked the sport: that someone gives the process, which has so far been missing by many. Guide.
Much was perhaps not new, but very straightforward, such as the self -evidentiality of the application for three editions of the games, 2036, 2040, 2044, just political for 2036 was still a sensitive topic under the traffic light. But it was more complicated, especially on two points. On the one hand, when Fricke “expressly cleared out” that the DOSB had given a demand for a citizen survey or vote. These are only “possibilities” of democratic legitimation, like a parliamentary decision.
However, Fricke also said that such a vote had to be as much as possible in order to be heard as much as possible. As this fits together, one should ask themselves especially in Berlin, where the makers do not see such a possibility due to the state constitution. Niroomand, the man behind the Berlin Volleys and former DOSB board, referred to a three-stage process: the members of the clubs, reaching professional clubs through their fans, include the city society through dialogues. Is that enough for the claims of the IOC (or at least what you believe in the DOSB in this regard)? Already in six weeks, on October 26, the Munich team will be asked about the plans there, it is the first big test for the German plans as a whole in every respect. According to Fricke, approval is currently around 70 percent.
A question of good processes
And with it the second point, the question above all about how the process should come to a result at all. Here the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported a continued deviation, a swivel of the pre-selection of a candidate, as presented in April, for a (combat) coordination of several applicants at the DOSB general assembly in September 2026. This version countered this version in the committee. IOC.
When Fricke presented himself in a media round in the DOSB headquarters in the DOSB headquarters in Frankfurt on Thursday, it became clear that the presentation from April, which was shown in the presence of Volker Bouffier, the then board for special tasks, which IOC member Michael Mronz and DOSB President Thomas Weikert was shown. At that time it was presented that the extraordinary general meeting in the second half of 2026 should vote on “the best rated/selected concept”. Now it is explicitly (and should at least have been meant in April) that possible and part of a democratic process shown by Fricke can be that the DOSB general meeting will vote on up to four candidates.
The further steps will be decided at this year’s general meeting in December in Frankfurt. In any case, a “decision matrix” with transparent and understandable criteria should be developed for the vote. Fricke calls that a “service” for the general meeting.
After the Munich survey, it will be shown who needs it – and whether the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), tailwind, provided that Munich’s plans would actually like to send Munich’s plans into a combat vote at the DOSB. The forecast also applies in this regard: the Munich survey will create new realities regardless of the result. Something else can be held after this week: that good leadership is also a question of good processes.
