Hendrik Wüst wants to bring the Olympic Games to NRW

Enlarge image

The logo of the German Olympic Sports Confederation

Photo: Britta Pedersen / dpa

The European Championships in Munich have just come to an end.

The two-week sporting event was a great success and the interest of the spectators was enormous.

Hendrik Wüst is apparently already targeting the next major event.

The Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia wants to bring the Olympic Games to his state.

"Major sporting events can have an enormously connecting and unifying force, especially in difficult times," said the CDU politician to the "Rheinische Post" from Düsseldorf.

The European Championships in Munich had shown that major events in existing competition venues could be sustainable and successful.

This points the way for a possible application for the Olympics.

"NRW already has a large number of sports facilities that could be used for the Olympic and Paralympic Games," said Wüst.

It is important to him to involve the people in the Rhine-Ruhr region.

"The guiding principle applies: no games of gigantomania, but close to the people." Wüst's predecessor Armin Laschet (CDU) had already campaigned for an application.

Olympia 2036 in North Rhine-Westphalia?

The European Championships in the Bavarian capital took place in the past few weeks.

Competitions were held in nine sports such as athletics, cycling and rowing.

The CSU parliamentary group in the Bavarian state parliament spoke out in favor of a new application to host the Olympic Games in Bavaria on Tuesday.

On Monday, the federal government signaled support for a possible German bid for the Olympic Games.

The Olympic Games were last held in Germany in 1972.

The venue at that time was Munich.

In Hamburg in 2015 there was a citizen survey about a candidacy for the 2024 Olympic Games. A majority was against.

In 2013, the people of Munich had already rejected an application for the 2022 Winter Games.

And NRW had already received a rejection last year.

In 2032, Brisbane will host the games instead.

The year 2036 is now being discussed for a new German application – 100 years after the Summer Olympics were held in Berlin.

bam/dpa