Ioc president bach:olympic games still in demand
IOC president thomas bach immediately went from self-defense to counterattack.
After the burgers’ clear vote against the 2022 winter games in munich, bach rejected accusations of gagging contracts with olympic hosts, squared off with opponents and called on germany to reapply for the wrestling spectacle.
"Germany, with its enthusiasm for sports and its economic potency, is always in a position to host games," the head of the international olympic committee (IOC) told the "bild" newspaper in an interview. "It gives me hope that over summer games, z.B. In berlin, at least, it is being discussed again."
The negative burger notices on sunday still bothered him. "I am rather disappointed and concerned that there may be a certain lack of courage in many parts of our country to consistently tackle important projects for the future. This can be observed to some extent in the construction of the airport, streetcars and railroad station," said the 59-year-old lawyer. "Due to the case of munich, the holding of olympic games is now also part of it."It could be that in a few years germany will have to realize "that we have not taken advantage of a good situation to invest in the future".
He indirectly accused the olympics critics, who clearly prevailed with their concerns in the referendums in munich, garmisch-partenkirchen and the counties of traunstein and berchtesgaden, of misleading the population: "the naysayers unfortunately concealed the advantages of a bid."Munich has even enjoyed the advantage that "sports facilities and infrastructure are largely in place". Munich would have been a "good candidate," says bach.
Bach countered the sometimes harsh criticism of the IOC’s gag agreements, which munich’s mayor had also called an "imposition" years ago, with a reference to the games’ financing model. "The IOC is working here with a fair distribution of risk. In the event of an election victory, munich would have received a payment from the IOC of around. 700 million in U.S. Dollars and further proceeds from marketing and ticketing," bach clarified, citing the next winter games in sochi (7. By 23. February 2014) as an example: "in sochi this is ca. 1.5 billion dollars. Organizing committees regularly generate operating profits. And the image gain of an olympic city cannot be measured financially at all."
Bavaria’s green state parliamentary group leader ludwig hartmann assessed bach’s revisions as "merciless self-defeat of the ioc". The burgers’ decision against the 2022 olympics "is directly related to the IOC and its in part immoral contractual arrangements – and not at all to despondency". The anti-olympia campaigner felt confirmed in his argumentation by the negative voting results. "If the citizens think they need a tunnel, a railroad line or a bypass, then they will support the respective project," said hartmann. "They will then get something lasting – and not an olympic flash in the pan, in whose glamour above all functionaries like bach want to bask."
After munich’s bid fell through, there is now a six-way battle for the 2022 winter games. Norway’s favorite oslo, which hosted the 1952 summer olympics, is being challenged by stockholm, peking – the site of the 2008 summer games – ukraine’s lviv, poland’s krakow and kazakhstan’s almaty. "The fact that the number of bidders has doubled compared to the 2018 games proves that olympic games have lost none of their drawing power," said bach. "Rather the opposite."
