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No summer games in NRW 2032: who screwed it up?

2021-03-01T15:55:54.666Z


After the debacle over North Rhine-Westphalia's bid for the Olympic Games in 2032, the guilty party is now being sought. DOSB boss Alfons Hörmann pushes the buck to the IOC and application manager Michael Mronz.


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DOSB President Alfons Hörmann

Photo: DPA

At a short-term virtual press conference, the leadership of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) wrote another remarkable chapter in the farce about the early failure of the German Olympic application in 2032.

After the debacle from the previous week, the search for those responsible is now beginning.

From its point of view, the DOSB has already made it clear: It is not.

The Rhein Ruhr initiative, with which North Rhine-Westphalia wanted to host the Games, was duped last week when the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided on Brisbane as the clear favorite for 2032 on February 24 would have.

The German application was practically off the table.

DOSB President Alfons Hörmann is certain that the IOC will make the final decision for the 2032 Summer Games in the Australian state of Queensland in a few months.

DOSB's transparency offensive

After NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) and Olympic initiator Michael Mronz (FDP) claimed in front of the press three days ago that the DOSB had basically spoiled the application by inaction and was not informed about the IOC's plans, the DOSB decided - Board member Veronika Rücker and Hörmann for a transparency offensive that is unusual in the history of German sport - provided that all the information in their 28-page presentation is correct.

The leadership duo accused both the IOC and Mronz of "false statements" on several occasions.

CSU party member Hörmann had phoned CDU party leader Laschet on Monday morning.

In a 45-minute conversation, the two agreed on a procedure to survive this sport-political declaration of bankruptcy and to save face.

Hörmann put it like this: "It became clear in the phone call that the Prime Minister had no significant information from Rhein Ruhr City." He would not accept the role of the bogeyman, said Hörmann.

As a result, Mronz was assigned the responsibility for the German application - because it is clear who is responsible for the fact that Laschet was not adequately informed.

Already at the beginning of January, after a video conference by the IOC, DOSB and NRW in 2032, it was foreseeable that the process for the allocation of the games in 2032 would accelerate.

Internationally it was already clear for a long time that Brisbane, supported by the Australian IOC Vice President and Bach confidante John Coates, had the pole position.

All appointments were communicated

In January, according to DOSB, there were further appointments with the IOC and with the application initiative.

A full-day workshop by DOSB and the Mronz delegation also took place in Frankfurt am Main, in which financing issues were discussed that Mronz had presented to a small group of those responsible from the Federal Ministry of the Interior and federal politics a few weeks earlier.

The workshop also dealt with the process of the citizen survey and the assessment of the international situation.

All appointments were communicated between Mronz and DOSB at any time, before and after.

On February 17th, a week before the IOC decision, Mronz agreed an appointment with the IOC for another video call on February 26th, the DOSB should also take part.

But on February 24, allegedly an hour before Bach's press conference, the IOC Mronz reportedly said that the DOSB had confirmed that it would not be able to conduct any further intensive dialogue about the application.

Hörmann says that is not true.

With the IOC, the DOSB even deposited that it would act quickly if necessary and seek state guarantees without a decision by a general meeting in order to remain in negotiations on the 2032 Games.

Mronz issued the statement on Monday lunchtime: "For us there were no reliable facts or even date perspectives for a decision by the IOC in February that would have required any change in our work program or a communication to our partners."

Also continue to work with Mronz

But are there any consequences?

No, as almost always in the sports family.

Hörmann announced that it would continue to work with Mronz, although Mronz had pulled the DOSB out of inactivity at a joint press conference with Laschet on Wednesday and thus exposed it.

In return, the DOSB exposed Mronz and presented documents that give the impression that a month ago the head of the Rhine-Ruhr application had believed and planned that the IOC would not make the decision on the 2032 Summer Games for two years.

Hörmann also gave the buck to two women: the IOC head of department responsible for Olympic applications and the Norwegian Kristin Kloster Aasen, head of the IOC commission for future summer games, who had declared that the DOSB had decisive signals in favor of Rhine-Ruhr in February miss.

Which Hörmann, in turn, vigorously denies.

Rücker also mentioned the strange role played by IOC Vice President and Brisbane lobbyist Coates on several occasions.

But she couldn't bring herself to criticize the Australian either.

Bach, a close sport-political friend of Coates, was only praised by Hörmann: "We cannot be represented more internationally than with the IOC President."

How should it go on?

Laschet and Mronz had announced that they would simply continue to bet on 2032 and generally on games in the "thirties," as Laschet put it.

The train has left for 2032, Hörmann made clear several times.

But Laschet also has no problem with 2036, as he announced the previous week.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the 1936 Nazi Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Berlin, Hörmann said: "I still lack the imagination and the imagination how to organize a successful Olympic Games in 2036." The DOSB President did not rule out the possibility that they would be served on a golden platter.

So summer or winter?

»Whether, when and where and with which concept it is important to calmly consider in German sport.

Of course without pre-determination. "

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Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2021-03-01

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