Berlin eyes 2016 Olympics after World Cup success

By Clive Freeman Jul 12, 2006, 11:24 GMT

Berlin ­ Buoyed by Germany's success in hosting the World Cup this summer, the nation's capital now seems certain to press ahead with a bid for the 2016 Olympics.

Klaus Wowereit, Berlin's governing mayor, says the city's best chance of winning the Games would probably be in 2020, but it was likely to 'throw its hat into the ring' four years earlier to let the world know it is a 'serious Olympic Games contender.'

The city's success in hosting Sunday's football World Cup final between Italy and France at the Olympic Stadium, and its staging of earlier key matches was proof, said Wowereit, that it could also be 'a magnificent Olympic Games venue.'

Wowereit said in a radio interview that competition was always tough to win the Games, but it would be no shame for a city to be rebuffed first time round. Other Olympic cities had suffered that experience but had then tried again with success at a later date, he said.

The German capital was a 'mature and fitting' city in which to hold the Games, he insisted. The last time Berlin staged a summer Olympics was in 1936, when Adolf Hitler ruthlessly used the event to glorify National Socialism.

News that Berlin was seriously considering a bid came at the same time that Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni announced that the Italian capital had decided to pull out of the race for the 2016 Games.

'Conditions are not right for Rome's candidacy,' said Veltroni, hinting the massive cost of hosting the event might 'split' Italy's centre-left government, which currently rules with a thin majority.

However, Giannio Petrucci, president of Italy's National Olympic Committee (CONI), later appeared to contradict Veltroni's statement, saying he 'still believed Rome could end up presenting a bid in the near future.' He and Veltroni were due to discuss the matter at a CONI meeting scheduled for later Wednesday.

But Berlin could find itself in opposition to it's northern city rival, Hamburg, one of the dozen venues selected by FIFA for the World Cup in Germany.

Hamburg Mayor Ole von Beust said the city planned to put together a 'very attractive concept' for the 2016 Games, which will follow the 2008 edition in Beijing and the 2112 Olympics in London.

Germany, Von Beust said, had to take advantage of the admiration abroad for its 'trouble-free staging of the World Cup,' but added that ultimately it was up to the National Olympic Committee to decide which city is nominated as a candidate.

Some 13 years ago, Berlin's efforts to get the 2000 Olympic Games ended in humiliation, when it came last among the half-a-dozen competing countries.

Wowereit concedes its bid then, in the early aftermath of the city's unification, was 'somewhat dilettantish,' but since then Berlin had made great strides, developing new sports facilities and infrastructure, and 're-incarnating the city.'

'Berlin deserves to get another chance,' he says.