Spectators show the Hitler salute during the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics on 1 August 1936 in Berlin.
Photo: SCHIRNER SPORTFOTO
Berlin’s state Parliament has given the go-ahead for the city’s bid to rehost the Olympic Games on or after the 100th anniversary of the 1936 Games staged by the Nazis.
“Our bid is a genuine promise for future generations,” Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner said during the 90-minute debate that preceded the vote Thursday.
“We want positive development for Berlin.”
Wegner’s CDU political party received support from rival SPD members and the far-right AfD for the Berlin Olympic and Paralympic plans that he first presented in May last year in the same stadium where Jesse Owens defied Adolf Hitler in the 1936 Games.
Berlin’s state government approved the concept this month for a bid that relies mostly on existing sports facilities and envisages using city landmarks such as the city park at the former airport Tempelhof.
It estimated the cost at €4.82 billion (NZ$9.54b), with revenue of €5.24b (NZ$10.38b) projected, giving a net profit of around €420m (NZ$832m), with a quarter of that going to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
“If we put on a summer fairytale for the world, then it’s a chance for the world,” Wegner said.
The plans were opposed by politicians from the Left party and Greens who referred to the financial risks of hosting the Olympics and criticised what they called “empty promises” and “castles in the air,” news agency DPA reported.
Tobias Schulze of the Left party said the last three Olympic Games were more than twice as expensive as initially planned, and he pointed out that many of the proposed venues needed renovation.
Jesse Owens breaking the 100m world record in Berlin, 1936.
Photo: B/W ONLY/STR / AFP
The bid organisers decided not to hold a referendum in contrast to organisers of three other bids from Germany.
Bids from Munich and North Rhine-Westphalia were approved in referendums, while vote-eligible people in Hamburg will have their say on that city’s proposed bid on 31 May.
If Hamburg’s bid survives, one of the four will be selected by the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) on 26 September for submission to the IOC.
“On behalf of the entire German sporting community, I congratulate Berlin on this decision, which was supported by a large majority,” DOSB president Thomas Weikert said.
“The bid has already garnered significant attention and sparked new enthusiasm for sport in the capital.”
However, many Berliners are against the idea of staging the Olympics at all, regardless of them potentially taking place on the 100th anniversary of the Games hosted by the Nazis.
An initiative called “NOlympia Berlin” is collecting signatures in an effort to force a referendum.
Germany wants to host the Games in 2036, 2040 or 2044.
– ABC News