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Olympic applicants Michael Mronz and Armin Laschet: high-flying plans
Photo:
Fabian Sommer / DPA
The recent history of German Olympic applications is overshadowed by scandals and the waste of tax revenues.
German applications had been unsuccessful six times in a row since 1986 and most recently failed twice because of the will of the people (Munich 2022, Hamburg 2024).
Now the offer from North Rhine-Westphalia for the 2032 Summer Games has to be stopped, even if Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) was still confident about the lofty plans on Tuesday.
A day later, on Wednesday evening, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed that the 2032 Games will most likely take place in Brisbane, in the Australian state of Queensland.
Officially, there is still only one so-called private initiative Rhein-Ruhr, led by Michael Mronz, FDP member, sports marketer and co-owner of the not undisputed PR agency Storymachine.
IOC President Thomas Bach is also a member of the FDP, so much of the half-baked NRW plans were linked to the unspoken hope that the IOC chairman would somehow sort it out.
A misjudgment.
Stops with the party again
In Laschet's State Chancellery, Bernhard Schwank pulls the strings as the sports department head.
For Schwank, this is already the fifth Olympic bankruptcy in various functions (previously as NOK General Secretary, DOSB Director and Olympia Managing Director): Leipzig 2012, Munich 2018, Munich 2022, Hamburg 2024 and now NRW 2032. Only on the projects Berchtesgaden 1992 and Berlin 2000 Schwank was not involved.
Unofficially, there were subtle negotiations between North Rhine-Westphalia and the Federal Ministry of the Interior, responsible for top-class sport, during these weeks.
According to information from SPIEGEL, it should have been about huge sums of money that the ministry, headed by Horst Seehofer (CSU), should set for the next federal budget.
Infrastructure measures that are somehow associated with Olympic planning have been highly controversial for decades.
The desire was great this time too, it should have been about four billion euros - initially, as a start.
The negotiations had picked up speed in January with Laschet's installation as CDU chairman.
There have been a few oddities since then.
High-ranking BMI representatives, who do not want to be named, spoke confidentially that Seehofer could hardly refuse his coalition partner Laschet, the possible candidate for chancellor.
This topic overshadowed the creation of the “National Strategy for Major Sports Events”.
The 2.4 million euro concept was actually supposed to be presented at the beginning of March.
In mid-January, SPIEGEL reported on the content-related battles between the ministerial officials and the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) based on internal documents.
The NRW 2032 Olympic application played a central role.
That is now all wasted.
According to statements made by the Norwegian Kristin Kloster Aasen, who heads the IOC commission for future summer games, the DOSB announced at the beginning of February that it would not enter into further talks with the IOC at the moment.
Formally, the DOSB acted absolutely correctly this time - there was neither a resolution by a DOSB general meeting nor a public survey - and in accordance with the agreements between DOSB and BMI.
The would-be Olympic hosts in North Rhine-Westphalia also seemed surprised.
"Excellent Concept" in Brisbane
As expected, the IOC Executive Committee has now unanimously confirmed a recommendation by the ten-person working group for future summer games to start "targeted negotiations" with Brisbane, which has an "excellent concept" that is well above all other interested parties.
If the governments of Queensland and the central government in Canberra give the necessary guarantees, the commission headed by Kristin Kloster Aasen, handpicked with members loyal to Bach, could now say at any time: We are in agreement with Brisbane and Queensland.
The Executive Committee would make the decision and submit it to the IOC General Assembly for approval.
It's that easy now at the IOC.
Who speaks with whom, when, on what basis what is discussed, who offers which concepts - hardly anything needs to be checked.
That was already difficult in the old system, but it was still possible to compare the Olympic offers with one another.
This has now become completely impossible for the public.
The rules for this were changed at the session in June 2019.
Bach sells the new system as a "revolution", which he used again on Wednesday.
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IOC boss Thomas Bach: Thank you down under
Photo:
FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP
At the virtual IOC session in two weeks, at which Bach will be confirmed in office for another four years, Brisbane is unlikely to become an Olympic city.
But maybe already in July at the session in Tokyo or in January next year in Beijing.
The Olympic world is wondering why the IOC really wanted a decision for 2032.
There are hardly any convincing answers.
On the one hand, there is the argumentation of the Aasen monastery, according to which prospective customers for 2032 have been examined extensively, for example in zoom meetings.
The IOC has not published the report of the commission, but according to the Aasen monastery this should be done soon.
The role of Bach's vice-president is controversial
In front of the press, Bach routinely ironed critical questions about his Vice President John Coates.
Coates is not only IOC Vice President, but also President of the Australian NOK and the World Sports Arbitration Court Cas.
Coates is one of the few IOC members who can be called confidante of the IOC President.
A man for all cases: He heads the coordination commission for Bach's Corona Summer Games in Tokyo - and, on Bach's behalf, he led the commission that worked out and presented the new Olympic award system in 2019.
Bach ensured that Coates' IOC membership was extended with a special rule, although the Australian has already passed the age limit of 70 years that normally applies to him.
The Olympics in Brisbane are also seen as a thank you from the IOC chairman to his old ally Coates.
Bach routinely rejects such assumptions.
Neither he nor Coates were involved in the work of the Aasen monastery commission.
“Coates didn't take part in any discussion of the commission.
He wasn't involved, either directly or indirectly, "claimed Bach.
The procedure is also approved by the IOC's compliance department.
Bach does not want to remember that he and Coates met several times with Australian delegations.
He and Coates last met Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Tokyo in mid-November 2020.
Laschet and Mronz have invited to a press conference in Düsseldorf for Friday, at which the advantages of Rhine-Ruhr 2032 should be praised.
Maybe the appointment will be canceled, maybe not.
The fact is: Germany is not in the race for 2032.
99.99 percent of the games go to Australia.
And if there were still difficulties with Brisbane and the Olympic tectonics of power began to falter, then there would be interested parties ready who can raise huge sums of billions overnight and already have all the necessary sports facilities: Qatar was already there with Doha Interested in playing 2032.
After the Arab peace that was signed in Al-Ula at the beginning of January, the Arab Olympic Games are a big topic in the medium term: the Gulf Olympics in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE and Oman.
If not for 2032, then certainly for 2036.
This spares Germany another embarrassing debate about whether to apply for 2036, 100 years after the Nazi games in Berlin in 1936. For 2040, you can think again.
Disclosure: The author was invited by the Bundestag Sports Committee for the public session on March 3, 2021 as an independent expert on the subject of the “National Strategy for Major Sports Events”.
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