A large majority of Germans are keen to see their country host the Olympic Games again, according to a survey published on Tuesday.
The polling was conducted as the German Olympic Sports Confederation seeks to whittle down four candidates to be the venue for Germany’s first Summer Olympics in more than five decades.
How much does Germany want the Olympics?
In a Forsa poll for the news magazine “Stern,” 72% said they would welcome a Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Germany for either 2036, 2040 or 2044.
Only 22% opposed the idea, while 6% gave no opinion. Support was strong across age groups and political parties.
Even the usually very skeptical supporters of the socialist Left Party and the far-right Alternative for Germany party were 71% in favor of a German bid.
Where might Germany hold the Olympic games?
The German Olympic Sports Confederation plans to decide by autumn 2026 which city to nominate with four candidates in with a chance. They are Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and the Rhine-Ruhr region.
Among those in favor across Germany, 39% preferred Munich, 24% favored Rhine-Ruhr, 15% backed Berlin and 11% chose Hamburg. Forsa surveyed 1,008 adults on October 30 and 31.
Geographically, bids from Berlin and Hamburg were significantly less welcomed in their home regions than those from Munich or the Rhine-Ruhr regions.
A decision on the candidate and year is expected in the autumn of 2026.
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Hamburg had already tried to host the 2024 Olympics, but a 2015 referendum narrowly rejected the plan.
Meanwhile, Munich residents have already voted in favor of staging the Olympic Games from 2037 to 2044, with a clear majority of more than 60% in Bavaria’s capital voting in favor in an October citizens’ referendum.
A separate YouGov poll for the DPA news agency last year showed lower support for any German Olympic bid, with 48% in favor and 32% against.
When has Germany hosted the Olympics previously?
Germany has hosted the Olympics on two previous occasions, both of which proved to be newsworthy events.
The 2036 Games would mark the centenary of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which were used by the Nazi regime for propaganda — a factor that would make any German bid somewhat sensitive. Those games were also defined by Black US sprinter Jesse Owens winning four gold medals to defy the racist ideology of Adolf Hitler.
During the Munich 1972 Olympics, the first major international sporting event on German soil since the 1936 Berlin Olympics, eight Palestinian gunmen stormed the Israeli team’s apartment at the Olympic village.
The Black September militants shot dead two Israeli team members, and took a further nine Israelis hostage.
In a botched response from West German police, all nine hostages were killed, as well as five hostage-takers and a police officer. The incident caused a deep rift between Germany and Israel.
Edited by: Rana Taha
