It’s been a few days since Verena Dietl honored the winners of the gymnastics all-around at the European Championships, and she still raves about it: “If you take these emotions with you, that’s something special.” You couldn’t have imagined it that way, says Dietl (SPD), who is the third mayor in Munich City Hall and is responsible for sports, among other things. Just a few weeks ago, the prevailing feeling was that many Munich residents knew nothing about the big sports festival. Then it started, at the opening event the Olympic Park had to close due to overcrowding, and boom, there it was: the exhilaration that it can bring with you to take part in such an event, to experience it. “It’s amazing what’s going on in the city,” says Dietl.
Summer, sport and good vibes. A foretaste of the Olympic Games that might, at some point, take place in Munich again after 1972? When it comes to Verena Dietl: why not? For her as a “Munich Kindl”, as she puts it, it’s like this: what you’ve always been told about 1972, you can feel this spirit in the city. She thinks this is a good reason to think about “that Munich might have the courage to take the next step”. So apply again to host the Olympic Games. She has spoken to many people from other cities and countries in the past few days. They reported that the Olympic parks at home were empty.
How things can be done differently can be observed in Munich, where the sports facilities from 1972 are now being used again. Society expects the same kind of sustainability from the Olympic Games today, says Dietl – and with all sympathy for the idea of bringing them back to the city: one would first have to deal with the ideas and specifications of the organizer of the Games, the controversial International Olympic Committee (IOC), “debate strongly”. Another important question is whether the people of Munich can even imagine it.
Green City Councilor Beppo Brem could imagine it. He is the sports policy coordinator for his parliamentary group and helped organize the European Championships at Olympiapark GmbH for three years, and is responsible for 300 employees, finances, administration and sustainability. He is also the chairman of the Munich district in the Bavarian State Sports Association. So it’s no wonder that Brem is also very euphoric when he describes how the sparks jumped at the championships and what the games meant for the city. “I’m always in favor of something taking place in Munich and a good sporting event in particular,” he says. With the Olympic Park, the city has a unique selling proposition, insofar as he is already “impressed” by the idea and “not per se opposed to any form of Olympic application”. The European Championships showed that the concept can be made sustainable, even if it will never be complete.
For the opponents, the International Olympic Committee is a red rag
The Bavarian Interior and Sports Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) officially opened the discussion, which was already in the air, this week and spoke out in favor of a German Olympic bid. “I hope that these European Championships are a sign that we will host the Olympic Games again in Germany,” he said Rheinische Post: “Germany – regardless of the location – has to pull itself together to apply.”
Herrmann’s party friend in Munich City Hall, CSU parliamentary group leader Manuel Pretzl, also advocates using the momentum created by the European Championships. “I can definitely imagine the Olympics in Munich,” he says, adding a “but”: only if there were different games than in previous years. Sustainable, “without pompous new buildings and huge commerce”. After all, you can recycle the old sports facilities in Munich. Pretzl believes that if the IOC went along with this idea, it would also increase acceptance among the people of Munich. He also believes that this is possible with the International Olympic Committee “because they also see that the old concept is no longer valid”.
The ÖDP and the left are against a renewed application. “We are critical,” says ÖDP faction leader Tobias Ruff, “the IOC is a red rag for us.” Maybe the games in Munich could even be made more sustainable, he believes – but the “giantomania” of the Olympics just doesn’t fit here. “Absolutely not,” says Left Party leader Stefan Jagel. For him, the IOC is far too closely associated with commerce. It’s different at the European Championships – after all, entry to some events is free.
The spokeswoman for the NOlympia alliance, Katharina Schulze, also spoke up. The head of the Greens parliamentary group in the Bavarian state parliament does not see the current euphoria about the European Championships as a legitimacy for the Olympic Games in Germany. “Sport is great, so I can understand why some people dream of applying for the Olympics again,” said Schulze. But: “The framework conditions have not changed since the last applications.” The IOC is still the same, including “gag contracts” that shift the financial risks to the venues. If there is a renewed application for the Olympic Games, a referendum or referendum will be needed again.
In 2013, the opponents of the Winter Olympics in Upper Bavaria clearly prevailed in several referendums. In Munich, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the districts of Berchtesgaden Land and Traunstein, they each voted against an application for the 2022 Winter Games.
This is how the selection process for the games works
When the discussion about the Olympic Games in Munich was last held, it was clear how the selection process at the International Olympic Committee worked. For the 2018 and 2022 Winter Games, cities had to notify the IOC of their interest nine years in advance, eight years before the date of the event, candidate cities were chosen, and seven years before the General Assembly of IOC members decided on the venue. This procedure has since changed. Now a small panel of experts headed by the IOC President (until 2025 this will be the German Thomas Bach), which is in constant contact with interested cities, will decide when it believes a concept is ready for implementation. As a result, the Olympic Games 2024 after Paris and 2028 Los Angeles were awarded in a double pack and it is already clear today that the Summer Games 2032 will take place in Brisbane, but it is still unclear where the Winter Games 2030 will take place (in 2026 they will be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo). For German ambitions, this means: Before 2036, nothing will work in the summer. But that would be a historically sensitive date, because that would be the 100th anniversary of the Nazi Games in Berlin. The chances are generally better for the winter games because there are fewer applications for them. A major disadvantage are referendums, such as those last held in Germany in Hamburg in 2015, when 51.6 percent said “no” to an application for the 2024 Summer Games.