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09/26 08:48 CDT Munich picked for Germany's bid to host the Summer Olympics in
2036, 2040 or 2044
Munich picked for Germany's bid to host the Summer Olympics in 2036, 2040 or
2044
BADEN-BADEN, Germany (AP) --- Munich will bid to bring the Olympics back to
Germany for the first time in more than 60 years after seeing off a rival bid
from Cologne to become the focus of the country's push to host a Summer Games.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced Munich as the selection at a
glitzy event hosted by the German Olympic Sports Confederation on Saturday. He
said it was a "huge opportunity for the whole of Germany."
With the exception of soccer games in Stuttgart and sailing in the northern
city of Kiel, Munich would stage the rest of the Olympic and Paralympic
competitions.
Germany hasn't settled on when it wants to host the Games and is targeting a
potential event in 2036, 2040 or even 2044.
That would be at least 62 years since the last Olympics in Germany. The 1972
Summer Games in Munich were overshadowed when 11 Israeli athletes were killed
by Palestinian militants.
The Munich bid scored top on a German Olympic committee evaluation of the
cities' sports facilities and international appeal published Wednesday. It
boasted local support after the bid was approved in a referendum by a
two-thirds majority last year.
The Cologne-based bid would have spread venues through 15 towns and cities
across the western region of North Rhine-Westphalia, including several in the
post-industrial landscape of the Ruhr valley.
Berlin withdrew its bid Thursday after coming a distant third in the evaluation
and struggling with a lack of popular backing. Local politicians championing
the bid had declined to hold a referendum, and their hopes were dealt a major
blow last week when they lost support in local elections won by the Left party,
whose local leader opposed the bid. A bid from Hamburg was dropped after it
again lost a referendum in May.
The potential for a German bid for 2036 --- 100 years since Berlin held the
Olympics under Nazi rule --- has been controversial. Steinmeier's office
indicated to German media earlier this year he'd prefer 2040 or 2044 to avoid
the centenary, but since signaled he'd accept a 2036 bid, too.
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See full AP coverage of European sports here
