European Championships: Of course, Munich's trump card is the Olympic anniversary

Created: 08/10/2022, 12:55 p.m

By: Alexander Kaindl

Athletics competitions will be held in the Olympic Stadium.

© Marc Müller/Munich2022

The European Championships begin.

The proven format is now stopping in Munich - there are opportunities and risks, as Günter Klein comments.

Munich – The European Championships are still a new but already tried and tested format.

Four years ago this collection of continental title fights was first held in Berlin (with Glasgow as co-host) - and actually everyone was on fire.

These championships appeared like the positive extract of the Olympic Games.

Above all: without the IOC and its rule in city and state politics.

And more manageable, more sustainable, cheaper - so you don't have to reassure the population first: Is that what you want?

The European Championships will not face any significant resistance in Munich for the next eleven days.

Munich's trump card is of course the Olympic anniversary.

The 1972 anniversary celebrations create a beautiful setting for the current sports festival, which serves nostalgia, but also comes in a contemporary outfit when you look at new sports such as climbing, beach volleyball or BMX, where not so meticulously paid attention to the sporting value It's the action that counts here - and if someone from the world class isn't there, it's passed over.

And anyway, that's the concept: Smaller sports strengthen each other, whoever comes to the championships because of one might take another with them out of curiosity.

Most EMs would – one by one – threaten to go under.

European Championships: Munich also has a handicap

However, Munich also has a handicap: that it is Munich.

A city that is very picky when it comes to sports outside of football.

It takes top performance to attract an audience.

Of the nine sports offered at the European Championships, track and field certainly attracts the greatest attention, which also plays in the largest and most difficult to fill venue, the Olympic Stadium - but it is obvious that the Germans are in serious trouble here and offer few attractions.

The heart of the championships must be beating audibly.

So we can be excited to see how these championships develop on Olympic terrain.

The fact that it's vacation time could be counterproductive, because people from Munich leave their city then - or it's a blessing, because many from outside say: the nine-euro ticket is still valid, let's go to Munich!