Hamburg to Compete With Boston for 2024 Olympics
Boston has another competitor in its bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Germany plans to put Hamburg forward as an applicant to host the Summer Games, the country’s Olympic committee announced Monday, choosing it over Berlin. The committee’s pick will be made formal later this week.
The decision comes a week after polling showed Hamburg to have an edge over Berlin in terms of public support. In Hamburg, 64 percent of those polled said they supported bidding compared to 55 percent in Berlin.
The Hamburg bid could still be held from going in front of the International Olympic Committee. A referendum on whether to bid is expected for later this year, as was the case for Berlin if it was selected. In 2013 in Germany, Munich’s plan to host the 2022 Winter Games was called off due to a vote.
Both a nonbinding local referendum (for this fall) and a statewide ballot question (for 2016) about Boston’s bid have been discussed, but it’s not certain whether either will come to pass. Last week, despite mild public support in Boston, the U.S. Olympic Committee said it remains confident in the bid.
In addition to Hamburg and Boston, Rome will be looking to host in 2024. Other rumored applicants include Paris (which looks very, very likely to bid), Istanbul (runner-up to Tokyo for 2020 hosting duties), and Doha, Qatar (since, uh, World Cup planning is going so well?).
The international bidding process will really get underway later this year. National committees must declare their candidates to the IOC by September 15. The first round will run into the spring of next year, when the IOC will arrive at a shortlist of candidates on a yet-unannounced date. The second round will run over the course of the following year, ending at the 130th IOC Session at some point in mid-2017, when a host decision will be made.
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