Munich party falls flat after Games defeat

Jul 6, 2011, 16:59 GMT

Munich/Durban - Everything was set up at Munich's Marienplatz for a party, but the festival mood fell flat almost immediately after International Olympics Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge announced in Durban that Pyeongchang would host the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Thousands had been gathering since the morning at the central square opposite the city hall and surrounding fan zone complete with beer garden to follow events in Durban on a giant screen.

But their hopes the Bavarian capital would host an Olympics for a second time following the Summer Games in 1972 were sorely dashed at 5.18 p.m.

The dismay and disappointment at Pyeongchang's clear victory was mirrored in Durban after Munich collected only 25 votes to the South Korean winter sport centre's 63. The French candidate Annecy garnered seven.

German President Christian Wulff, who had travelled to South Africa to throw his weight behind the bid, congratulated Pyeongchang on the victory.

'We knew it would be very difficult,' he said.

'Munich and Germany showed themselves to be sympathetic, open and enthusiastic sports fans. I thank everyone who worked for the candidacy with such enthusiasm.'

Munich, with figure skating Olympic champion Katarina Witt as the glamorous figurehead of its bid, had lobbied hard in Durban to swing the vote. Even football great Franz Beckenbauer was in town as a lucky mascot for the longed-for Munich 'winter dream' to follow up Germany's 'summer fairy tale' of the 2006 World Cup.

'It was all about pressing the emotional buttons,' said Witt of Munich's presentation. After the vote she left close to tears.

Munich's bid got off to a slow start, dogged by a dispute with land owners in Garmisch-Partenkirchen - the designated Alpine ski venue - and with not all Bavarians supporting the Games, but the bid had grown from strength to strength over the past few months and the mood was optimistic.

Now officials will have to decide whether it was all worthwhile - and whether it is worth trying again.

Michael Vesper, director general of the German Olympic movement DOSB, called the vote 'a very disappointing defeat.'

'It seems the key was that Pyeongchang was bidding for the third time. Whether we bid again is something we will have to take time to decide,' he said.

DOSB president and IOC vice-president Thomas Bach also said officials should take time to reflect on another candidacy.

'Sport has shown again that victories aren't everything. But defeats are also not the end of everything,' he said.

Munich's bid had cost some 33 million euros (43 million dollars), 30 million of which was financed by sponsors with the remainder by the city of Munich and the authorities at Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Berchtesgadener Land.

In Garmisch, where a referendum was only narrowly in favour of the Games, the Durban vote was watched by more than a thousand people on a giant screen. Despite the loss, balloons were released into the sky and many applauded as a compere congratulated Pyeongchang.

One of the co-initiators of the 'NOlympia' protest group, Alex Doering, stayed away but was delighted at the outcome.

'Garmish-Partenkirchen has in reality won,' he said, adding that 'Pyeongchang is now in the claws of the IOC.'

The German Nature Protection Ring also welcomed the vote, saying the Games would have led to 'a dramatic intervention for nature and the countryside.'

Others could not hide their disappointment. Heide Rosendahl, long-jump Olympic champion at the 1972 Olympic Summer Games, said: 'I can't feel able to celebrate with the South Koreans. Maybe it's a sign of the times that tradition is discarded for new territory.'