Olympic bid: Berlin withdraws – Kretschmer disappointed

The withdrawal of Berlin's Olympic bid has greatly disappointed Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer. “This is bitter, a huge missed opportunity for Berlin,” said the CDU politician on the sidelines of a papal visit to Rome. Elections would decide a lot about future prospects and opportunities, emphasized Kretschmer. “And this has now been taken away from Berlin.”

Two days before the decision on the German candidate, Berlin withdrew its application. The metropolis wanted to use the “Berlin+” concept to apply together with Brandenburg, Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2036, 2040 or 2044. Before the decision by the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) on Saturday, Berlin was only considered a blatant outsider behind Munich and Cologne-Rhine-Ruhr. The capital had budgeted up to six million euros for the costs of the application by 2027.

Left and Greens against Olympics - worse grades than competitors

The failure in Berlin has numerous reasons. In the House of Representatives election last Sunday, the black-red Senate, which had pushed forward the plans, was voted out. Election winner Elif Eralp (Left), who could become the new governing mayor, is an opponent of the Olympics and had already criticized the application process and the costs. The Greens, who are expected to become part of a government, also reject the plans.

In addition, the DOSB inspectors gave the Berlin Olympic project a worse certificate than the competition on Tuesday. Munich's proposal received 87 out of 100 possible points from the DOSB in an evaluation matrix, Cologne-Rhine-Ruhr received 85 - both received the rating "very good". Berlin achieved 74.6 points, which was enough for the grade “good”.

Hoping for Markkleeberg

But Saxony is not out of the race yet, explained Kretschmer. The canoe park in Markkleeberg is involved in North Rhine-Westphalia's application. This connects all of Germany. “If you were to talk about 2040 now, i.e. 50 years of German unity, that would be something.”

Sports Minister Armin Schuster also sees Saxony's chances of winning the Olympic and Paralympic Games with the last all-German bid from Cologne-Rhine-Ruhr and the co-host location Markkleeberg. “We trust that the importance of the East German share in the Cologne-Rhine-Ruhr concept will be given appropriate weight in the decision-making process; that would also be the necessary socio-political signal.”