The German Olympic Committee (DOSB) announced on Tuesday in favor of a bid to host the 2024 Summer Games. The announcement was made very officially by its president, Alfons Hรถrmann.
The German announcement looms over the press conference to be held by the Paris 2024 project leaders on Tuesday, November 4th at the headquarters of the French Olympic committee. Bernard Lapasset, the head of the French International Sports Committee, Denis Masseglia, the president of CNOSF, and Patrick Kanner, the Minister of Sports, are to present the results of France’s bid feasibility study.
Adept in the Olympic movement, its customs, and its sensitivities, the Germans have caught everyone by surprise and have indicated that the bid would also concern the 2028 Games, in case of failure in the race for the 2024 edition. A way to demonstrate their extreme motivation.
One question remains: the candidate city. Two options are presented: Berlin, the capital, host of the 1936 Summer Games, and Hamburg, the country’s largest port, in the north. In both cases, residents will be invited to express their opinion on their city’s bid through a public consultation.
The announcement of the selected German city will take place after the two referendums, on March 21, 2015, during a special assembly of the DOSB. The German Olympic Committee will then need to submit the bid dossier to the IOC by November 2015.
The DOSB had recently assured that it wanted to wait for the special IOC General Assembly on December 8 and 9 in Monaco, where a reform of the bid process is expected to be discussed before making a decision. Evidently, the assurances provided by Thomas Bach last week, following the IOC Executive Board’s meeting in Montreux, dispelled the last doubts of the German leaders.
