Hamburg promises ‘sustainable, compact’ games

BERLIN: Hamburg is set to launch its bid to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games with the city’s mayor promising “a compact, sustainable” games — without a white elephant in sight.
The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DSOB) announced Monday that Hamburg is their prefered candidate and was chosen ahead of a rival bid by Berlin.
The decision to back Hamburg must still be rubber-stamped at the DSOB’s Extraordinary General Meeting in Frankfurt on Saturday.
There will also be a local referendum, likely to be held in September, to be won in Hamburg before the bid can progress.
A recent poll suggested that 64 percent of Hamburg’s 1.7 million population would welcome the Olympics being held in their city and at least 50 percent would need to vote in favour for the referendum to be successful.
“Anyone who thinks the referendum is a foregone conclusion is guaranteed to be wrong. There is still much work to be done,” said DSOB president Alfons Hoermann.
“Things must be clearly and transparently communicated, also in terms of finances. “How much it will cost has not yet been answered and Hamburg must deal with that now.”