HAMBURG, Germany: Germany’s Olympic Sports chief Thursday urged Hamburg voters to support a bid to host the 2024 Games, warning that a no-vote could hurt the future of sports in the country. Alfons Hoermann said securing the population’s backing would be “a decisive boost for German sports — in every way”, not to mention the additional spur if Hamburg eventually ends up winning the hosting right for the Summer Olympics. Outlining his vision for the campaign against Budapest, Paris, Los Angeles and Rome for the Games, Hoermann promised to trot out the best of Germany’s sporting world in the battle. Residents in Hamburg and Kiel, where the sailing events are planned to be held, will make their decision known when the referendum results are revealed on Sunday night, but support appeared to be dropping in the run-up to the vote. In order for the bid to continue, a majority yes-vote is required — as well as the support of at least 260,000 people, or 20 percent of the city-state’s population. Nearly 500,000 have already sent in absentee votes. According to a survey commissioned by the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DSOB) this month, only 56 percent of Hamburg residents wanted their port city to host the games — down from 63 percent in September. Critics are concerned by the staggering costs of hosting the Games — projected at 11.2 billion euros in Hamburg — and question the sustainability of the project. But Hoermann warned that opposing the bid would end up making things “much more difficult to get necessary support” for less visible sporting disciplines. “A two-tier system would become more noticeable in German sports — with the very successful football on the one hand and other sport disciplines on the other,” he told sports news agency SID, a subsidiary of AFP. The DSOB opted for Hamburg over the capital Berlin, but the public still has the power to veto the plans — as Bavarian residents did in November 2013 when they blocked Munich’s bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Hoermann promised that if voters approved the bid, the committee would “secure the backing of countless prominent faces in Germany’s sporting world”.
