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Posted

I‘m gonna spare you the details, but DOSB is once more in turmoil thanks to incompetence, political ambition and in-fighting. This will of course further delay (and derail) any German bid for 2036/2040.

And on top, Fencing 1976 said in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that before any bid would stand a chance, the German government would have to acknowledge the autonomy of sports (a thinly veiled reference to when the govt refused visa for „independent“ Russian athletes ahead of an Olympic Fencing - of all sports!!! - qualifier that was eventually moved out of Germany because of this) again.

It‘s pretty clear neither 2036 nor 2040 will happen here sadly. But I‘m not surprised.

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Posted
5 hours ago, StefanMUC said:

I‘m gonna spare you the details, but DOSB is once more in turmoil thanks to incompetence, political ambition and in-fighting. This will of course further delay (and derail) any German bid for 2036/2040.

And on top, Fencing 1976 said in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that before any bid would stand a chance, the German government would have to acknowledge the autonomy of sports (a thinly veiled reference to when the govt refused visa for „independent“ Russian athletes ahead of an Olympic Fencing - of all sports!!! - qualifier that was eventually moved out of Germany because of this) again.

It‘s pretty clear neither 2036 nor 2040 will happen here sadly. But I‘m not surprised.

Is there any link to any of the details? The last I heard from the DOSB it sounded like they were just starting to get their act together...

Posted
5 hours ago, yoshi said:

Is there any link to any of the details? The last I heard from the DOSB it sounded like they were just starting to get their act together...

Only paywalled things at Spiegel Online (in German) and The Inquistor (same content in English, both by Jens Weinreich):
https://www.spiegel.de/sport/dosb-vorstandschef-gefeuert-streit-an-der-spitze-eskaliert-a-ccc7f7ac-c835-49c9-92d8-725f01a4e909

The CEO got fired btw because he did not disclose to the board that he is going to stand as the social-democratic candidate for the Mayor of Cologne elections next year. He apparently thought he can run his campaign AND the full-time DOSB job...now there's issues about whether they have to pay him his nice salary for another four years (he had just started a new term in summer). That's not going to help focusing on an Olympics bid...

Also issues related to how Karlsruhe was selected over Hannover to host the 2029 World Games, and of course the city government of Berlin pretending that they are so ready to host the Olympics when it turns out that most of the venues on their own list are far from ready or even completely unsuitable.

Posted

Not quite sure how they can either not know about their CEO running for one of the more important city mayoralties in Germany, or how they can not see it as a conflict of interest (!). It really sounds like the whole DOSB needs a new leadership, it all seems quite incompetent at best & maybe dodgy at worst. It sounds like Germany is a bit like we were before our election, with everyone knowing there'll be a change of government & just waiting for it to happen. Maybe the CDU will be Olympics friendly & they'll make progress - although I'm not sure the DOSB have the capability to make the most of any opportunities they get :(

Posted
7 hours ago, yoshi said:

Not quite sure how they can either not know about their CEO running for one of the more important city mayoralties in Germany, or how they can not see it as a conflict of interest (!). It really sounds like the whole DOSB needs a new leadership, it all seems quite incompetent at best & maybe dodgy at worst. It sounds like Germany is a bit like we were before our election, with everyone knowing there'll be a change of government & just waiting for it to happen. Maybe the CDU will be Olympics friendly & they'll make progress - although I'm not sure the DOSB have the capability to make the most of any opportunities they get :(

This is not really depending on the elections. All major parties support an Olympic bid in principle anyway this time. Only thing is there‘s no approved budget for 2025 yet, with the obvious effects on funding DOSB and sports in general.

As for the CEO: He made his Mayor candidacy public without informing the DOSB board, and I guess in every company, this would create a major issue. He had no sense for how it would look like, and the board once more came out with a whole chicken farm of eggs over their faces…

In the meantime, the Berlin city govt has announced drastic cuts to many popular things in culture and public transport (in part to finance an extremely expensive and unnecessary few km of inner city highway). If an Olympic bid was to go ahead there now with a referendum, it would be DOA. Mood in Munich is better, even though our finances aren‘t as rosy anymore either.

 

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Posted

One day before the 92nd anniversary of Hitler’s rise to power, two days after the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz, so called Christian and liberal parties united with fascists to achieve a majority in German parliament for a catalogue of performative actions that will achieve absolutely nothing to solve any of the questions around migration here, in Europe and the world. F*ck them all.
 

So soon enough the centennial of the fascist games may actually even sound tempting now that this taboo has been broken after 76 years of existence of the Federal Republic.

Coincidentally, I was in Berlin over the weekend and for the first time visited the Olympiastadion. While it is really in top shape nowadays, it cannot deny its monumental Nazi origins, unfortunately.

Posted

Politics aside (well, not really, but now with a more concrete Olympics twist):

Munich city council has today overwhelmingly (the city has a green-social democrat majority, in this case supported by conservatives and liberals) approved the creation of a bid concept that will likely in autumn be put before a referendum, and at the end of the year the infamous DOSB will (finally?) decide which concept to put forward for 2036/2040. A nationwide concept is now off the table and remaining are supposedly apart from Munich: Rhine-Ruhr, Berlin on its own and a Berlin/Hamburg combo (which, in case my hometown doesn't get the nod, would make a lot of sense for me).

Issues in Munich are that while we still have very functional legacy venues from 1972 (plus Allianz Arena and a brand new additional indoor arena), the pool cannot be extended to nowadays required 10 lanes (well, I guess it could - I'm going there regularly to swim and there's quite some space at the sides left, but then I'm not an architecture/pool building specialist) and of course many additional sports which have to be accomodated in the city or the surroundings now that the regional/nationwide idea will not be pursued.

I guess politics will anyway steer it more towards Berlin one way or another, but the question in all German cities will be whether there will be sufficient public support.

Posted

Berlin - Hamburg seems a bit more reassuring to me than the Rhine-Rhur concept. The concept of having several co-hosting cities can make sense for the case of Germany, Hamburg and Berlin are not that far apart (to compare with 2024, it is a bit longer than between Paris and Lille, but not by much, and it had not caused any problems). But I still have trouble seeing what Hamburg could bring that Berlin would not have, because at first glance one could be tempted to say "why would Munich be able to play it alone and not Berlin?". Munich would of course be a logical choice and would have all its chances for 2040 (it would be a big mistake if they try 2036 in my opinion), even if I would be a bit disappointed to try something again in Munich when the last German games were also held in Munich.

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Posted

Hamburg has many venues that would complement Berlin, reducing the need to build/renovate there. Berlin is also notoriously bankrupt, so sharing costs should help selling it.

Also, while not at Paris level, you can produce quite some iconic settings e.g. along the harbour/Elbe. Hamburg is well-established as a world triathlon series event also, and it’s anyway more beautiful than Berlin IMHO.

 

Posted
7 minutes ago, StefanMUC said:

Hamburg has many venues that would complement Berlin, reducing the need to build/renovate there. Berlin is also notoriously bankrupt, so sharing costs should help selling it.

If Berlin is on the verge of bankruptcy, wouldn't it then perhaps be more reassuring if Hamburg went it alone, or is the equipment deficit even greater in Hamburg than in Berlin? (because the choice of a multi-city organization can still generate additional costs, due to the need to double the logistics, the possible question of building 2 Olympic villages, etc. etc. But there is no doubt that the Germans will certainly make the most economically sensible choice, given the fact that you are, ahem... allergic to public spending compared to the European average)

7 minutes ago, StefanMUC said:

Also, while not at Paris level, you can produce quite some iconic settings e.g. along the harbour/Elbe. Hamburg is well-established as a world triathlon series event also, and it’s anyway more beautiful than Berlin IMHO.

Anyway, I think that no one expects emblematic settings from Germany, so no one would judge negatively if there are not many emblematic settings for German Games.

(now, having already been to Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, and other German cities, if I had to judge exclusively on the emblematic scenery of the cities, I just hope we won't be in Munich)

Posted

Berlin and Munich have what no other city in Germany: a full-size Olympic stadium for ceremonies & athletics.

Berlin’s is in top shape (visited it 10 days ago), Munich’s will be renovated with aim to host athletics worlds 2029 or later.

Hamburg’s 2024 bid had the stadium as the biggest cost factor, and R-R has shied away from naming a location so far because many of the cities involved want to have the “crown jewel”. So for Hamburg, teaming up with Berlin would totally make sense. And while Berlin is bankrupt, a former Mayor once famously coined the phrase “poor, but sexy”. Lack of money never stopped grandiose plans there.

Posted
25 minutes ago, fusilli said:

Do Munich and nearby have enough host capacity to handle a present scale Summer Olympiad? Berlin sure does (guess).

You mean hotel rooms?

Ever heard of Oktoberfest (6-7 million people every year, many from all over the world within two weeks)? There should be plenty of hotel rooms available in the city and within, let’s say, one hour radius of it that’s included in the transport network.

Olympic village is another story. The space foreseen in the 2022 bid (smaller anyway for Winter Games) is no longer available AFAIK. There are certainly other locations possible though, probably one thing to look at seriously when the bid concept is established in the coming months.

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