Hamburg’s bid to host the 2024 Olympics collapsed on Sunday after the majority of the city’s residents voted against the multibillion euro project in a referendum, killing off the candidacy and leaving officials in shock.
Hamburg’s withdrawal reshuffles the cards in the race to land the world’s biggest multi-sports event, with Paris, Los Angeles, Budapest and Rome left in contention and an International Olympic Committee (IOC) decision due in 2017.
“We expected a different result,” bid CEO Nikolas Hill said in a conference call. “The result nevertheless is clear for us, we have to accept it. There will be no discussion or rethinking it. That is it. That is what they wanted.”
Almost 52 percent of the 650,000 votes cast went against the 7.4 billion euro (US$7.84 billion) project, the second time German voters had scuppered a planned Olympic bid after Munich’s failed attempt for the 2022 winter Games in 2013.
Hamburg was the only one of the five bidders to vote on whether the city should bid for the Games, with the result a major embarrassment for German sports chiefs who had insisted on another bid after the crushing defeat of Munich 2022 in the regional referendums.
“Having followed the discussions in Germany over the last weeks, this result does not come as a complete surprise,” an International Olympic Committee spokesman said. “With this decision a great opportunity for the city, the country and the sport in Germany is lost.”
Hamburg’s withdrawal comes after four of six bid cities dropped out midway through the campaign for the 2022 winter Games, while Los Angeles replaced Boston as the US choice for the 2024 summer Olympics earlier this year after the latter pulled out over financial concerns.
Hamburg’s bid was affected by a string of unrelated events, Hill said, including the deadly attacks in Paris by Islamist militants earlier this month, the refugee crisis and worldwide sports scandals.
About 1 million refugees and migrants are expected to arrive in Germany this year alone, with authorities struggling to cope and critics of the Games saying money should not be spent on sports venues.
Germans have also been shocked to see the country’s soccer association under investigation over a 6.7 million euro payment to world governing body FIFA that was allegedly used to earn votes in favor of Germany’s 2006 World Cup bid.
The German soccer affair is one of several major sports scandals, along with the FIFA corruption affair and widespread doping claims in Russian sports.
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