Decision about the Olympics: Munich does it

German sport is applying for Munich as the venue for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2036, 2040 or 2044. The decision was made in the Kurhaus in Baden-Baden at the extraordinary general meeting of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB).

In the vote there, the Bavarian capital prevailed over the Rhine-Ruhr region with Cologne as the center. Berlin, as the third remaining applicant, withdrew itself from the running three days before the decision, Hamburg after a referendum at the end of May.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced the result live early Saturday afternoon during an ARD broadcast. The delegates from the DOSB member associations had already voted before twelve o'clock.

In Berlin, the state government there, which was previously supported by the CDU and SPD, had high hopes of winning the race with the city's international appeal. The area in front of the Brandenburg Gate, a world-famous landmark, was intended as a Medal Plaza, a place for award ceremonies.

After the election to the Berlin state parliament last Sunday, however, a new coalition became possible in which two of three partners, the Left Party and the Greens, had clearly rejected an Olympic application - the Greens, in contrast to their party friends in Munich and North Rhine-Westphalia. The SPD alone stood behind it as the third partner. However, there was also headwind from the Social Democrats.

The state constitution did not stipulate that the state government would have submitted a yes or no to the Olympics to the people of Berlin in a referendum and, if successful, would have bound every possible state government. Things were different in both Hamburg and Munich at the municipal level or in the participating cities in the Rhine-Ruhr region; there were votes there.

Berlin's governing mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) then withdrew the application. According to him, sports associations that were previously pro-Berlin made it clear after the election that they would not support Berlin in Baden-Baden given the new political background.

However, the result of an evaluation of the applicant cities by a DOSB commission was also announced on Tuesday. Berlin performed significantly worse than Munich and the Rhine-Ruhr region. From the point of view of those responsible in Berlin, this would not have influenced the sports associations - the only decisive factor is said to have been a possible new state government led by the Left Party. Critics of the rejection accused Wegner and his colleagues of only wanting to cover up an unconvincing application to the DOSB.