GERMANY: Sports leaders "positive" about possible Munich bid for 2018 Winter Olympics

Germany's Olympic Sports Association (DOSB) executive committee gave a positive endorsement on Tuesday (July 24) to a possible bid by Munich to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. The DOSB also said that its executive had recommended against a bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, because the odds of success were remote after London won the 2012 games. Berlin and Hamburg have expressed interest in bidding for a summer Olympics. "It's been our goal to bring the Olympics to Germany as soon as possible," said DOSB president Thomas Bach after the executive meeting in Frankfurt, referring to the positive endorsement for Munich. "We have weighed when and under what conditions there are the best chances for this goal of the DOSB. We have decided that we, the German Olympic Sports Association (DOSB) feel very positive about a possible bid by Munich for the Winter Olympics 2018" he said. Munich hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics, during which 11 Israeli athletes died after Palestinian members of the Black September group took them hostage in the Olympic village. Two hostages were killed by the gunmen and the remaining nine died during a bungled rescue attempt by German police at a nearby airport. Germany has long rejected any legal responsibility for the killings. The 1936 Winter Olympics were held in nearby Garmisch-Partenkirchen, an Alpine resort which would also be incorporated into any Munich bid. Germany's last three Olympic bids -- Berchtesgaden 1992, Berlin 2000 and Leipzig 2012 -- all failed. All DOSB members will discuss the executive's endorsement of a possible Munich bid at a meeting in Hamburg on December 8. The 2018 Olympics are due to be awarded in 2011.

ITN Source | July 25, 2007

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