A good wind of nostalgia is currently blowing through the German sports landscape. In a few days the European Championships, the bundled European Championships in nine sports, will begin in the Olympic Park in Munich. 50 years after the Olympics in the Bavarian state capital, the sports facilities under the unique tent roof construction will once again be the venue for a major sporting event.
Even before the first starting shot is fired, there is a discussion about whether it might not be time for the Olympics again in Germany. Because the summer games in Munich 50 years ago were also the last ones in this country. “The example of Munich can also help to increase acceptance and approval for the Olympics in our country,” says Thomas Weikert, President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation.
One can agree with Weikert insofar as the European Championships actually take place on sustainable ground. The competition venues in Munich have been there for a long time and did not have to be expensively built. In general, the Munich Olympic Park is a prime example of the positive effect of the Olympics. To this day, it shapes the cityscape and is often used for sports as well as for living. There is no doubt: the Olympic Park has improved the quality of life in the beautiful city of Munich a little bit over the years.
But Weikert ignores the fact that the European Championships are not the Olympic Games. These are many times higher in terms of turnover and scope than the competitions in the coming days. The Olympics are the product of multi-billion dollar companies organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The purpose of the games is to open up new markets and earn money. The sponsors and the IOC as their executive body dictate the conditions for this.
This was also one of the reasons why the Bavarian population last rejected an application for the 2022 Winter Games in 2013. They did not want to bow to the demands of the IOC. Another was that in the end the games would have been much larger than the citizens would have liked. A number of temporary sports facilities would have had to be built. Not sustainable. At least for the moment, Weikert’s dream of the Olympics seems a bit blue-eyed.
On the other hand, the Olympic organizers are trying to improve their image after the scandalous games in Sochi 2014, which cost billions, or more recently in Beijing. They can no longer ignore the topic of sustainability. Maybe that’s where the Germans’ chance lies. Even Berlin’s bid for the Olympics in 2036, 100 years after the National Socialists’ propaganda games, is considered possible. There are a few understandable arguments for the games in this city.
Anyone who has ever had to visit the container outdoor toilet at the Jahn Stadium in Prenzlauer Berg knows that there is something fundamentally wrong with the sports infrastructure in this city. Decay on a small scale is reflected on a large scale. Many sports facilities in Berlin are old and dilapidated. Olympic Games would offer a chance for sport to get a new look in this city. Even Berlin’s embarrassing application for the Summer Games in 2000 resulted in the Europapark swimming pool, the Velodrome and the Max-Schmeling-Halle. Three sports facilities that are still very popular today.
The decisive question is to what extent the IOC can and wants to implement the image change from gigantic to sustainable games. The IOC campaigns on this have recently been somewhat mendacious. According to the world association, more than 90 percent of the Olympic sports facilities from the 21st century are still in operation today. The truth is, however, that some of these sports facilities are not used for their intended purpose, and that sports are hardly or only very rarely played there. History also speaks against the lived image change. Despite all the assurances, the games became more and more expensive.
The IOC and its supporters would have to turn the clock back a damn long time to make the Olympic-skeptical Germans want to go to the Games again. Maybe until 1972.
