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Easy there! Don’t think there’s any need to rush in. You gotta let the processes play out, especially if at the end of the day you want the national as a whole behind whatever bid goes through. That said, obviously Munich is now in an incredibly strong position (and pre-qualified for THREE cycles). It’s certainly thrown the gauntlet down to Hamburg, Cologne and Berlin. And anyway, until Kirsty makes a decision otherwise, at the pointy the final decision is all still negotiated and massaged in the back rooms of Lausanne. Munich/Germany has just given itself some almighty great bargaining chips to bring to those negotiations whatever happens.

Well I've put my main response in the other thread but right now "the Bavarians" have backed a bid by a 2/3 majority, something which I must say I thought was utterly implausible in Europe now. As a non German observer, I'd have been delighted to see 51-49 for yes, this is beyond any expectations. So if the response of the others is that, I'd say right now that's far from "backfiring" - it's probably the best thing that could happen, give the bid to a city that decisively wants it & stop the DOSB doing anything stupid.

The official ballot question was "Should Munich bid for the Olympic Games of 2036/2040/2044?" So they left it open, which is probably the smartest thing in this volatile IOC selection world nowadays. TBH some of those infrastructure projects needed would hardly be done by 2036 anyway. What still speaks against Munich: We've had our turn, and that could be a factor in consideration should other regions/cities also have positive referendum outcomes (apparently Rhein-Ruhr in April, Hamburg in May, Berlin in Never) by the time DOSB decides, even if those have lower approval results in the end.

Yes yes yes Best Olympic bid news for years. In fact is this actually the first time ever that an Olympic bid has been approved by a binding public referendum? Especially if it really does turn out to be a 60+ landslide, the DOSB would be absolutely mad to risk the momentum on Berlin or Hamburg, even NRW. Just make Munich official, & instantly make it the favourite to win. Added: I never even dreamed that a German (or any European tbh) city in 2025 would pass a 2/3 majority yes. An incredible message to send to the IOC, who'll surely be even more delighted. Just one question - is this specific to 2036, specifically not for 2036, or anything?

Prima! That’s great news to wake up to - even better than I was hoping to hear when I went to bed last night. And whatever happens with the other German bidders, the DOSB or 2036, it means Germany has at least one legally pre-qualified bid for the next three Olympic cycles. I’d rate the chances high it will be able to snare at least one of those. Fantastisch!

Preliminary end result: Yes 305201 votes (66.4%) No 154207 votes (33.6%) A 2/3 majority, this is an absolute (and in this form completely unexpected) triumph, there can be no other word for it! Whether this will mean anything in national and international competition is another matter though of course. But tonight I'll be very happy to be an Olympics fan in Munich - especially since my own district had one of the highest turnouts and the overall highest Yes result even (71.7%) - also for the 2013 referendum we were the only area that actually voted in favour. And speaking of turnout and 2013, I keep repeating that a major tactical mistake was to have that referendum held not in connection with the Bavarian elections that year but a few weeks later separately. This purely political consideration led to a much lower turnout (29% then, 42% today), and helped the No campaign winning for sure. As for the No campaign, their leaders were understandably unhappy tonight, but said they will now move on to watch closely whether the promises will be kept. And one more funny observation: The lowest turnout by far was in the city district where actually the Olympiapark is located (it still voted 68% Yes).

This is indeed excellent news and proof that it is possible to put forward technically sound proposals that are responsible enough (from a financial and environmental stand points) to gain public support. I very much hope that Munich (or another German city but Munich has a soft sport in my heart) will host the Games again in a not too distant future.

The IOC *might* even leap onto it, but there's another hurdle before them and that is called DOSB. I can already see that for some dubious reason, DOSB will go for a less popular bid (hello Berlin!) because they think it looks good/sentimental (hello Leipzig 2012!). They have this complex and intransparent selection procedure, that has already been altered along the way confusingly, and it's not even clear yet which body of DOSB or in which voter composition the decision next year will be taken. It might motivate Hamburg and Rhein-Ruhr at least to get their campaigns into a positive setting too, or it could backfire in the sense of "oh well, if the Bavarians want to spend all their money, let's leave it to them".

Hope the IOC plays accordly and bring something positive over this. As mentioned above, is "rare" having a result like that from an Olympic referendum and this may a "do not miss" chance having a powerful pragmatic country and safe host like Germany on board.

Being honests me too, especially with that difference.

Well done Munich!

Hamburg has planned a referendum May 31 and Rhine-Ruhr residents could head to the ballot boxes on April 19. No vote is required in Berlin. The DOSB will finalize bid choices at its General Assembly in fall 2026. The post BREAKING: Record voter turnout propels Munich towards rare referendum win for Germany’s Olympic bid (early results) appeared first on GamesBids.com. View the full article

I'm very pleasantly surprised, as you can guess.

Well, the Munich referendum was a "Yes" victory.

At last a good result of a referendum about Olympics. Even with a more difference than expected.

First results are in: We're at around 64% for the Yes campaign!!! Still quite some votes to count, but this is not going to turn upwards. So far, it seems that all of the 23 city districts, including the most left-leaning ones, have a Yes majority.

While we're waiting for the results, it is already known that the referendum will be valid whichever way it goes because it has the highest ever turn-out for such a vote in Munich (more than 39%, the vast majority by mail-in voting - 33.7% vs around 5.4 until 17:30 at the polling stations). The previous participation record was for building the Allianz Arena (also somewhere in the 30s with the known positive outcome). The 2013 referendum on 2022 bid which was narrowly defeated in Munich proper (but with bigger margins in the other regions of that planned bid) got around 29% participation. This time only the city is voting, not other areas which would be foreseen as well (such as Augsburg Starnberg, or the district of Munich - which is a separate entity, suburbia plus some rural places, to the city). So concluding from those two examples which were sports related it would seem that a higher turnout tends to be favouring the Yes campaign. Not long before we know now.

Berlin should withdraw. It's slightly concerning that as someone from ap different country who's only spent two days in Berlin, I seem to know the city & its response to this proposal better than its own government . Hamburg I don't know, maybe with HSV back in the Bundesliga they might be thinking of a new stadium by 36 & that might swing it? NRW like I've said I find the most compelling option but negotiating who gets what - especially the stadium - will be hard - plus in their referendum there'll probably be some Yes cities and some No ones. They should just choose Munich tonight if it's Yes because a No vote anywhere will boost the No campaign everywhere else, including in Munich. They'd be wanting a second vote as soon as results come in. (Also because speed matters in the "bid process" assuming nothing has changed yet. Get in while there's not really any other solid candidates)

Oh, and the Berlin govt is trying to avoid a referendum from what I’ve been reading a few weeks ago. Because as you say, it would be a near certain rejection.

There seems to be a tendency in favour, judging by alledgedly leaked early mail-in polls/results, but difficult to really tell right now. DOSB would never do what you suggest. Parochial interests always override common sense in Germany, no matter the issue at hand.

Is there a good chance of that happening? I must say from a point of view of just wanting Germany to host the games, I think there's a strong argument for the DOSB to end the domestic process & just select Munich now if there's a yes today. It'd give a German bid evidence of genuine public support (probably the first time since 1972?) & that's too precious to risk on a possible rejection by NRW or Hamburg, not to mention a near certain rejection by Berlin.

Today is the day… Apart from having a Yes overall majority obviously, it is also necessary to reach a quorum (10% of the 1.1 million eligible voters) to vote in favour. In order to get a higher turnout, this time voters got mail-in documents sent directly with the voting notification, not just on request. We’ll see which effect this will have in the end. If there really is a clear Yes majority, this would probably be the first time in ages that the public in a democracy voted in favour of bidding when officially asked, I think. Fingers crossed.

If you ignore the prospect of Nusantara bid as more as money pit for a pharanoic capital to the elite (especially post Burning the Parliament this year). True Israel ban can be defended, but is not like Indonesia is picking this battle without dark interests.

Whew!! Thanks, AK, for that very detailed explanation. And I thought judging a triple salchow and GOE was difficult!! What if the ISU's computers overload the weekend before Milano opens?? 😀

Sorry been busy and just now popped in here and saw this. As @Olympian said - most of the spots were already allocated based upon the results of Boston Worlds 2025 this past March. The only countries who have "locked in" their candidates are Russia & Belarus - because those athletes are competing as AINs, so the spots they earned go to the athlete specifically rather than the national federations who establish their own criteria for selecting their Olympians. The way the allocation process works is there are 24 of 29 spots for Men & Women respectively, 16 of 19 spots for Pairs, and 19 of 23 spots for Ice Dance which are determined at Worlds of the preceding year (in this case Boston 2025). There's a somewhat complicated formula and allocation process (all outlined in this doc - https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/Olympic-Games/Milano-Cortina-2026/qualification-system/Qualification-System-for-Figure-Skating.pdf) that determines how many spots different country's national federations earn in each discipline at Worlds. 3 spots outright = Top 2 placements total 13 or less plus all 3 entries make the Free Skate 2 spots outright + 1 entry at the Olympic Qualifying Event (called Skate to Milano this year) = Top 2 placements total 13 or less and 2 entries make the Free Skate 2 spots outright = Top 2 placements total 14-28 points and 2 entries make the Free Skate 1 spot outright + 1 entry at the Olympic Qualifying Event = Top 2 entries placements total 14-28 points and 1 entry makes the Free Skate OR Sole entry places in the Top 10 1 spot outright Men/Women = Sole entry makes the Free Skate 1 spot outright Pairs/Ice Dance = depends on the # of multiple entries earned outright by different countries & not every country that makes the Free Skate/Free Dance will earn an entry because there are 20 teams that qualify for the Free Skate/Free Dance at Worlds but only 16 & 19 spots allocated at Worlds The remaining 5 spots in Men/Women, 3 spots in Pairs and 4 spots in Ice Dance are then allocated at the Olympic Qualifying Event in the fall. The ISU decided 4 years ago to make this a standalone event instead of holding it as a competition within a competition at Nebelhorn Trophy. I actually like this decision because holding it as part of Nebelhorn meant that entries for one of the significant early season Challenger competitions were limited which isn't ideal. The ISU hasn't declared that any athletes will or will not qualify in their national quotas - the only control the ISU has from this point onward now that the final spots have been allocated is setting the minimum technical standard which must be achieved for any entrants (called the CTES = Combined Technical Elements Score). The ISU sets the CTES for all ISU Championships & the Olympics - Worlds is higher than Europeans/4 Continents/Olympics and Jr Worlds is the lowest. As long as a federation has earned a quota spot and has a skater/team who've earned the CTES minimum, they can use that spot. If a country does not have anyone who meets the CTES minimums (the deadline for earning these is Jan 26, 2026) then they will, of course, have to relinquish their quota spot and it will go to the next country in line based upon the results of the Olympic Qualifying Event from last month. As of this moment, the only quota spot earned from Worlds or the OQE that looks like it will definitely be relinquished is Uzbekistan's pairs spot because their only pairs team, who earned the spot in Boston, split up over the summer - he has retired & she's rumored to have a new partner who last competed for Spain last February which means he isn't eligible to compete for another country until next February after the CTES deadline has passed. If UZB relinquishes the spot then the first alternate is France and they'll definitely use the spot. There are a few quota spots earned that MAY wind up being relinquished because the only skaters/teams with CTES minimums do not have citizenship yet (Finland's second ice dance spot, Australia's pairs spot, Latvia's second men's spot) or because the NOC has set a higher score standard which hasn't been achieved yet (Switzerland's second women's spot, Netherlands' pairs spot) - in case you're wondering, why, yes, I do have a spreadsheet tracking this, lol. At this point in time, there are some countries where their Olympic spots have already been announced. The most notable example of this is Spain. As soon as the OQE was finished and they successfully earned a 2nd ice dance spot, their fed announced that it had been determined during the late spring that the skaters/teams who earned the spots (Tomas Llorenc Guarino-Sabate in Men at Worlds and Olivia Smart/Tim Dieck in Ice Dance at Worlds and Sofia Val/Asaf Kazimov at the OQE) would be their Olympic team despite having at least 1 other dance team that has the CTES mins. There are a lot of countries where there is only one skater/team who have the CTES mins - Mexico's Donovan Carrillo, South Korea's Hannah Lim/Ye Quan, etc - so those skaters/teams are, obviously, going to be named to the Olympic team, provided there aren't any injuries. If there was an injury and the skater/team couldn't use the spot, it would just be relinquished by the federation and the ISU would then reallocate it to the next one in line. For larger countries like the US, Canada, Japan, etc - most have moved to a "Body of Work" selection process where their Nationals results aren't the final arbiter of who makes the team. We're well into the figure skating season at this point, so there's a lot of data already being accumulated & tabulated. - Italy has a somewhat complicated calculation for their team selection and the FISG has given themselves some wiggle room to basically do what they want and ignore the calculations if they want for their Olympic team selections. - Japan's process is also rather complicated - and I'm not sure I've seen the JSF's Olympic selection doc yet, but if it's like their Worlds selection doc from recent seasons, only the Nat'l Champ is guaranteed a spot on the team and if someone else is the highest ranked Japanese skater at the Grand Prix Final, they're also guaranteed a spot, and a 3rd spot is left up to their Int'l Committee to decide. - South Korea has a ranking competition in late November/early December and Nationals in January and the combined results of both will determine who makes the Olympic team. - China announced a couple weeks ago that they will add the scores from Cup of China (2nd Grand Prix event which just wrapped up earlier today) and their Nationals and the highest cumulative scoring skater/team will get their 1 Olympic spot in each discipline. - The USFS has a fairly complicated calculation that determines 5 of the skaters/teams who are eligible for selection based upon (mostly) this season's results, but there are other ways to make one's way into the Selection Pool - and, ultimately, the USFS' International Committee makes the final decision of who will be on the team. At this point, most educated skating fans would tell you that there are certain skaters who are already "locked" for their countries' Olympic teams - Japan's Kaori Sakamoto, Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara; USA's Ilia Malinin and Madison Chock/Evan Bates; etc, but nothing's set in stone until December/January for most countries after they've held their National Championships. Since we're just on the 2nd weekend of the Grand Prix Series, there's still a lot of skating and opportunities for skaters to make their own cases for consideration - the women's fields for USA, JPN and KOR are all super-intriguing with multiple contenders for the spots each country has. Also, the Team Event selection process is a different animal begat of the individual event quota allocation process. The Team Event qualification process awards points to countries based upon their highest result in each discipline at Worlds (or Euros/4CCs if no points earned from Worlds, or Jr Worlds if no points earned from either Worlds or Euros/4CCs) and the Grand Prix Series (or the Jr Grand Prix if no points earned from the Grand Prix). This only matters if there are more than 10 countries with spots in at least 3 disciplines. Right now, there are only 10 countries who have earned spots in at least 3 of the 4 disciplines (USA, JPN, GEO, ITA, CAN, FRA, GBR, CHN, KOR & POL), so it's pretty likely that those 10 countries will be the ones participating in the Team Event; but if the quota reallocation process goes deep enough into the alternates lists then Poland (in the 10th position right now) could be knocked out because they have the lowest amount of points. I hope this helps explain how the Olympic allocation process works and the ISU's role, as well as where we are in the selection process for most countries. You are indeed correct that there is still a lot to be decided. All that's really been determined, right now, are which countries are "in" and where countries are on the alternates list for quota reallocation.