Berlin tovább bizonytalankodik az olimpiai pályázat kapcsán
Tobias Schwarz/GETTY IMAGES
After the media impact of the Milano Cortina, the German capital is stepping up its ambition to host a Summer Games, but it still faces financial, political and social obstacles before it can become an official candidate.
The reverberations of the 2026 Winter Olympics have helped to reignite an ambition Berlin has carried for years: to become host in 2036, 2040 or 2044. The Berlin Olympic Commissioner Kaweh Niroomand argues the atmosphere generated by Milano Cortina can translate into structural support for a city project that goes beyond stadiums. "There's no other event in the world that brings as many countries together as the Olympics," he told Courthouse News Service this week.
The capital is competing with Hamburg, Munich and the Rhine-Ruhr region to become the national bid that the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) will choose on 26 September 2026 in Baden-Baden. In that domestic contest, Niroomand points to the city's sporting weight as a decisive advantage. "If any city in this country can be called a sports city, it's certainly Berlin," he said in the same interview.
However, even if it clears the national hurdle, the outcome would not depend on Berlin alone. The International Olympic Committee usually applies a continental rotation principle and may consider that, for 2036, it is another region outside Europe's turn, which would push any realistic horizon to 2040 or 2044.
The year 2036 also carries a complex symbolic burden, as it would coincide with the centenary of the 1936 Berlin Games, staged by the Nazi regime and used as a propaganda instrument of the Third Reich. For that reason, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, through a spokesperson, told Der Spiegel that "The Federal President regards the year 2036 as historically problematic for a German bid." Even so, the DOSB President Thomas Weikert made clear that "We have to be ready to organise the Games (whenever they decide). This concerns all three editions," and argued that even that date could serve to project 'a positive Germany' and demonstrate the country’s democratic maturity in contrast to its past.
The sharpest debate, however, is being fought on the budgetary and urban front. Submitting the bid can cost around €6 million, in a city grappling with strained infrastructure and a track record of major projects beset by delays and cost overruns, such as BER airport, which has become a byword for administrative inefficiency. That weariness fuels scepticism towards any promise of accelerated transformation.
Niroomand insists the event would not be an end in itself, but a tool to channel federal and private investment that would be unlikely to arrive on that scale without the Olympic framework. "The whole city could benefit from this," he told CNS, stressing that the Olympic Village would mean new housing and that transport and sporting facilities would see structural upgrades. He also maintained that preparation would force greater discipline about deadlines. "The good thing about the Olympics is it has a real deadline. If you're not ready in time, you can’t host it," he said.
On the social side, promoters argue that the impact would not be confined to major venues, but would extend to grassroots sport and young people through the modernisation of facilities and better training conditions. That line of argument seeks to counter the perception that the Games are, above all, an international showcase.
Public opinion in the capital, however, remains split, with a clear critical majority. A Civey poll published by Tagesspiegel at the end of November put opposition to submitting a bid at 67%, against 27% in favour and 6% undecided. By contrast, an Infratest dimap study commissioned by the DOSB in the final quarter of 2025 found that 70% of Germans believe a bid would lift the country’s overall mood and 63% that it would encourage physical activity, reflecting a gap between the national climate and local perceptions.
The political dimension adds another variable, as the municipal elections scheduled for this year could alter the balance of forces in City Hall, and a change of administration could complicate continuity for the project. From the opposition, Die Linke candidate Elif Eralp voiced the discontent she says she detects among part of the electorate when she stated that "People feel like they're on the wrong end of a joke when there's suddenly €6 million for the Olympics."
Meanwhile, the institutional process continues. The citizens' initiative 'Die Spiele für Berlin' collected 27,465 signatures to oblige the Abgeordnetenhaus to formally debate political backing for the bid and measures linked to promoting sport for all. Of those, 21,252 were validated and the presidency of parliament declared the initiative legally admissible, so the plenary referred the matter a couple of days ago to the sports committee for consideration.
Berlin is thus pressing on in a long-distance race in which sporting momentum coexists with public distrust, the weight of history and the demand for financial credibility. The Olympic bid aims to act as an urban accelerator; its viability will depend on whether it can turn that promise into enough political and social consensus to sustain it over time.