Berlin has officially withdrawn its application to become Germany’s candidate for the 2036, 2040 or 2044 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games. The Berlin Senate made the decision on Thursday, shortly before the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) was due to select Germany’s candidate. The withdrawal ends Berlin’s participation in the national selection process. Munich and the Cologne-Rhine/Ruhr region are now the remaining candidates, with the DOSB set to make its decision at a special meeting in Baden-Baden on Saturday
Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) said the political situation following Sunday’s election had become an important factor in the decision. After the election, Die Linke’s lead candidate Elif Eralp publicly said she believed the decision on the Olympic application had effectively been settled. Wegner said representatives of major sports organisations subsequently made it clear to him that Berlin no longer had a chance of being selected.
Wegner said the outgoing Senate initially continued seeking contact after the election. However, he said it ultimately had to take Eralp’s statement and the response from the sports organisations into account. He added that the question of political stability had played an important role in the organisations’ assessment of Berlin’s application. Wegner described the withdrawal as a major opportunity lost for Berlin.
Die Linke had consistently opposed Berlin’s Olympic application. Eralp had criticised the costs involved and argued that Berlin should use its public funds for other priorities rather than pursuing the Games. She said she did not see a sufficient benefit for the city in continuing with the Olympic plans. After Die Linke won the election, Eralp again indicated that she considered the Olympic decision settled. Her statement came before the outgoing Senate formally withdrew the application.
Tobias Schulze, chairman of the Left Party’s parliamentary group in the Berlin Abgeordnetenhaus, rejected the idea that the election result was responsible for the failure of the bid. He instead said the outgoing CDU-SPD Senate was responsible for the problems with Berlin’s Olympic concept and reiterated Die Linke’s position that Berlin could not afford the Games.
Berlin CDU lead candidate Stefan Evers sharply criticised the withdrawal and linked it to Die Linke’s opposition to the Olympic plans. Evers said Berlin would lose billions of euros in potential funding for sport, infrastructure and urban development because the Olympic bid was being abandoned.
He pointed to possible investment in swimming pools, amateur sports clubs and accessible sports halls, as well as transport and other infrastructure. He also argued that Berlin would miss out on jobs that could have been created in construction, hospitality and sport. Evers also criticised Eralp’s handling of the Olympic plans and argued that the consequences for Berlin were already significant even though she had not yet taken office.
The political dispute came after the DOSB evaluation commission had assessed Berlin’s Olympic concept below the two other remaining applications. Munich received 87 out of 100 points, while Cologne-Rhine/Ruhr received 85. Berlin scored 74.6 points and was placed last among the three applications. Berlin’s proposal, known as “Berlin+,” involved Brandenburg, Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and was designed for a possible 2036, 2040 or 2044 Games. The evaluation put Berlin behind its two competitors before the political situation changed following the state election.
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