Berlin would consider a bid for the 2032 or 2036 Olympics despite setbacks in recent years, local sports confederation chief Thomas Haertel said on Tuesday.
“Berlin can do Olympics,” Haertek told dpa. “The organized sport in Berlin will have an exchange with the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) on the possibility of another bid.”
Berlin hosted the 1936 Olympics which were misused as a propaganda event by German leader Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime. A bid for the 2000 Games failed and the DOSB picked Hamburg over the capital for 2024, with Hamburg’s bid then stopped by a referendum.
German politicians including Horst Seehofer, the interior minister whose portfolio includes sport, are against a bid for the Games 100 years after the 1932 edition.
For 2032, Berlin could face competition in form of the western German Rhine-Ruhr area which is considering a bid to stage the Games in 19 cities of the region.
Armin Laschet, Prime Minister of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia where the Rhine-Ruhr area is located, said Monday said he wants clarity by the time of next year’s Tokyo Games whether the German government and the DOSB would support the bid.
“We want to achieve something big in North Rhine-Westphalia,” Laschet said, adding that he doesn’t believe in a Berlin bid for 2032 or 2036.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is expected to elect the 2032 host on 2025. After Tokyo, the 2024 Olympics are in Paris and the 2028 edition in Los Angeles.