WORLD
Hamburg withdraws its bid for 2024 Olympic Games
Baku, November 30, AZERTAC
In two parallel referenda held in parallel in Hamburg and Kiel, jointly bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, Hamburg rejected the bid and Kiel overwhelmingly supported the bid, according to New Europe.
By a narrow margin (51,7%), Hamburg’s 650,000 citizens that showed up on Sunday to cast their vote rejected their city’s bid for the 2024 Olympic Games; Kiel voted in favor with a wide 66% margin.
The remaining contestants now are Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, and Budapest.
Hamburg’s mayor, Olaf Scholz, announced that Hamburg is withdrawing its bid as it was confirmed that the majority of the population was against organizing the games. The Mayor specified that this was against his recommendation. Critics of the bid pointed out that the games would carry a price tag of €7,4 bn, most to be footed with the tax payer. Many recalled that the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens played a role in the country’s bankruptcy. In Rio de Janeiro, there is mounting criticism over the police taking on the city’s poorest by destroying favelas, to organize the 2016 Olympic Games.
Germany has not held Olympic Games since Munich in 1972, 43 years ago, which is remembered for the terrorist attack against the national Israeli Team. In the wake of the Paris attacks, citizens of Hamburg were skeptical. In 2013, the citizens of Munich also rejected their city’s bid.