Early Citizens' Referendum for 2032 Rhine-Ruhr Bid

(ATR) The Rhine-Ruhr Initiative is planning a citizens' referendum on a bid for the 2032 Summer Olympics in the near future.

"It would make sense to launch the citizens' referendum in 2021 or at the beginning of 2022 at the latest," said Michael Mronz, founder of the Rhine-Ruhr City Initiative, at a press conference. "In the coming weeks, we will discuss with state politicians how we will approach this."

In contrast to the last bids with Hamburg and Munich, the lead-up to the citizens' survey is not under the responsibility of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), but entirely under the leadership of the private initiative.

"This has a great advantage," emphasized Mronz. "The citizens do not have to participate in the decision-making process on a certain sports policy or general policy direction, but rather the pure conception of the Games is submitted to them for voting."

The relatively early voting time is "absolutely necessary" due to the new regulations of the IOC, explained Mronz.

"We assume that the award will not be made in 2025, as was originally usual. This will happen much earlier."

With its Agenda 2020, the IOC had opened itself up to an earlier award date if a suitable candidate was available.

After the 1972 Munich Olympics, Germany has been unsuccessful with a series of bids for summer and winter Games. Berlin tried for 2000, Leipzig failed for 2012. Munich attempted winter Olympic bids for 2018 and 2022. Hamburg launched a bid for 2024 that was dropped over low levels of public support.

The 2032 Rhine-Ruhr initiative has been in development for several years. It proposes spreading the Olympics across 14 cities in the western region of Germany.

In late July, Qatar joined Indonesia, Australia, India and Germany in the quest for 2032. A joint Korean bid is also still a possibility as is another attempt from Madrid, Spain.

Currently, the Australian bid from Queensland appears to be at the most advanced stage of planning.

Written by Heinz Peter Kreuzer

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