Germany's Olympic bid: expensive polish for the nation

The report wasn't really a laughing matter. There was still a lot of laughter about the news that crocodiles are said to be in the water used for the 2032 Olympic rowing competitions in the Australian state of Queensland. “Would you want to row here?” the BBC asked its followers on Instagram about a video that featured lots of vicious reptiles.

But the fun quickly ended again. The BBC pulled the video after Australian politician Matt Canavan of the Liberal National Party complained that the river in the video was not the Fitzroy Rover in Queensland, but a body of water of the same name in Western Australia. The BBC got it wrong by 3,500 kilometers. Canavan accused the broadcaster of spreading lies. And just like that, a harmless report had become a political issue.

That's how it is when it comes to the Olympic Games. Everything that has to do with the five rings is so charged with meaning that even the smallest details can cause major debates. Incorrect images on social media can quickly damage national pride. It doesn't matter that crocodiles are regularly spotted in the real Fitzroy River. It's about the big picture of the nation that is shown to the world at the Olympic Games. It should be as flawless as possible.

Five years ago, the Australian coastal metropolis of Brisbane was awarded the contract to host the 2032 Games. There was also interest in hosting these games in Germany. But the application from the Rhine and Ruhr failed to submit itself to the responsible commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in a timely manner. Germany was out.

That should change. Hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games has long been established as a national goal in Germany. The coalition agreement between the CDU, CSU and SPD expressly mentions support for a German bid for the Olympics. The benefits of applying for the Olympics are also mentioned in the justification for the sports funding law just passed by the German Bundestag.

The sport is intended to help Germany shine in international competition. The stated goal in the justification for the text of the law is fifth place in the national rankings at the Summer Olympics. Tenth place at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris was considered a disaster. German sport should improve as quickly as possible and be a credit to the nation.

The Olympic Games in Germany are intended to serve as a catalyst for sporting success. The umbrella organization responsible for an application, the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), expects the Olympics in its own country to give another strong boost to the promotion of top-class sports. It is already under special protection.

More funds than ever before are earmarked for the promotion of competitive sports in the federal government's draft budget for 2027 - 361.7 million euros. An additional 6 million euros have been budgeted for the costs of a German Olympic bid. Competitive sports and the Olympic Games as an investment in national pride. Savings are made elsewhere.

When it comes to elite sport, there is surprisingly little haggling. Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and the Rhine/Ruhr region with Cologne - all four German applications that entered the national race for the role of host for the mega event have put aside the otherwise important budgetary discipline in their campaigns. Millions of dollars have flowed into applications for the role of an applicant.

In Hamburg we have known since the failed citizenship referendum in May that the money invested in the campaign is simply dead. In Berlin, they had planned to spend 6 million just for preparing an application to the IOC. You can now save the money after the capital withdrew its application for the games two days before the decisive vote at an extraordinary general meeting of the DOSB in Baden-Baden.

The withdrawal came after the modest verdict of the DOSB evaluation commission, which rated Berlin's Olympic bid worse than the other two. In addition, Elif Eralp, who led the Olympic-skeptical Left Party to victory in the House of Representatives election, described the issue of the Olympics in Berlin as closed.

In Munich and the Rhine/Ruhr region, with Cologne as the flagship, referendums had positive results. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia has spent 11.5 million euros to hold referendums in Cologne and the other candidate municipalities in the state. Even in the knowledge of a possible defeat in the DOSB's final vote on Saturday, the state government viewed this as a sensible investment.

People in the Bavarian capital were just happy that the International Athletics Federation Word Athletics has awarded the 2031 World Championships to the city. The currently cash-strapped municipality applied for it, even though it actually can't afford it. When those responsible were presented with the host contracts, the responsible department for education and sport pointed out that World Athletic wanted to pass on all risks to the host city. This is reminiscent of the gagging agreements that Olympic cities have to submit to the IOC regime by signing.

As the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported, the Department of Labor and Economics as well as the city treasury also said they were critical of the World Cup contracts. In the end they were signed without any changes. Munich's reputation as a host city for major sporting events should not be jeopardized. Sure, you want the Olympic Games. This is an event of national importance. Things are possible that are actually forbidden from an accounting perspective.

Incidentally, the discussions on the contracts with World Athletic in the Munich City Council committees took place behind closed doors. You will have to get used to closed doors when a German Olympic bid is officially submitted to the IOC soon. The criteria by which applications for the next vacant Summer Games in 2036 from all over the world will be evaluated by the IOC's Future Host Commission remain unclear.

By March 2027, all applicant cities must answer a detailed catalog of questions, which, in addition to concrete plans for sports facilities and an Olympic village, a comprehensible financing concept and state guarantees, should also explain what legacy the games should leave behind in the host venues. So the really big number.

The commission selects the best candidates according to its standards from those interested and sends them to the next phase of the application process. Those who made it onto this shortlist will now receive advice on sharpening the concept. At the end of 2028, the applicants who are considered worthy will enter into a “targeted dialogue” with the IOC to clarify final questions. In mid-2029, the IOC General Assembly will decide on the host for 2036.

The Qatari capital Doha, India's Ahmedabad, South Africa with Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg as well as Santiago de Chile and Istanbul, which has tried in vain for the games five times since 2000, have officially thrown their hat into the ring. There are expressions of interest from Egypt, Hungary, Italy, South Korea and Canada. An application from Indonesia has already been rejected by the IOC after the country refused to allow athletes from Israel into the country for the 2025 World Gymnastics Championships.

In view of this large list of competitors, the DOSB decided early on that if the German application failed at the first attempt, it would be sent back into the race for the 2040 or 2044 Games. One thing is certain even before the first vote in the IOC. The German application will certainly not fail because of the fauna in the German rowing areas. Crocodiles have not been spotted on the regatta course in Unterschleißheim near Munich or in Duisburg-Wedau in the recent past.