Munich prevails against Cologne-Rhine-Ruhr: the Olympic bid for 2036, 2040 or 2044 faces major challenges

After the weekend of celebration over their national success, Munich's Olympic applicants face labor-intensive and complicated weeks, months or even years. Bavaria's state capital is nominated by the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) as a candidate for the 2036, 2040 or 2044 Summer Games - in the domestic duel with Cologne-Rhine-Ruhr, Munich clearly prevails with 91:50 votes. The tasks - and problems? - but are now getting bigger.

A selection of challenges that Munich now faces - in addition to sports policy lobbying - in order to get closer to the Olympic dream:

Time pressure

All the projects and ideas that are linked to the Summer Games in Munich have in common that there is not much time left until 2036. The city on the Isar is also applying for 2040 and 2044. But in principle, Munich wants to be ready in just under ten years - perhaps that's when the chance is greatest. “For us it means really getting started tomorrow,” said Mayor Dominik Krause. “We as the state capital of Munich cannot wait any longer.”

The Green politician appealed primarily to politicians in Berlin. “We depend on the federal government to significantly speed up planning issues like the ones we have up to now.” Large projects in Germany take too long, which is “hardly possible to explain to people,” as Krause said. He recalled that the Munich subway was built within a decade before the 1972 Games. “It’s hard to imagine that today.”

Public transport

Local public transport is one of the biggest challenges in terms of infrastructure. The construction of the second S-Bahn main line is intended to provide relief. However, the tunnel across the city center is still a long way from being put into operation - the “Donna Maria” tunnel boring machine recently began drilling the first exploratory and rescue tunnels. In the late 2030s, S-Bahn trains should run through the main route. If the 2036 Games were to be awarded, this would have to be the case much earlier.

The main station is currently a major construction site; As of today, it too is not expected to be finished until the late 2030s. In addition, the Olympic Village planned in the northeast must be connected, among other things: an extension of subway line 4 and an S-Bahn ring junction north are being considered.

Olympic Village

Speaking of the Olympic Village: This is to be built east of Daglfing and Englschalking, will house up to 16,000 athletes and up to 3,000 media people and will be the core of a new residential area after the games. The organizers plan that more than 10,000 people will then live permanently in the apartments there.

But the city apparently cannot access the area there without restrictions. According to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, a property owner has not yet planned to hand over his land to the city for the Olympic Village. The “SZ” reported, with reference to a recent architect’s presentation, that this particular property is then excluded from the Olympic plans. Critics fear that, in extreme cases, expropriation could be considered - which would be a strange development for a Green mayor.

Olympic Stadium

The Olympic Stadium, which was built for the 1972 Summer Games and is world-famous because of its roof, is currently being renovated and made fit for the future. The World Athletics Championships will take place in the oval in 2031. For reasons of monument protection, the stadium should then look the same from the outside as before. But did the planners think of everything when modernizing?

The back straight and parts of the north and south curves, for example, remain without a roof, which is bad in summer heat or possible rain. Mayor Krause somewhat evaded a corresponding question at the winners' press conference in Baden-Baden. “We will certainly review our application concept,” he said, indicating that he would consider further possible construction measures that are compatible with monument protection.