Copenhagen’s Lord Mayor Frank Jensen told a conference held by the Danish-German Chamber of Commerce last week that he would like to see the 2024 Summer Olympic Games to be held jointly by Copenhagen and Hamburg.
He said, “cooperation between the two cities is the only way that democratic states like Germany and Denmark can pull off a mega-project like the Olympic Games”.
Jensen has already reached out to Hamburg’s mayor Olaf Scholz about the concept and further discussions will occur.
Should both cities host the Games, the Fehmarn link now being constructed between Denmark and Germany would reduce the travel time between the two cities to less than three hours. Also, the 18 km link between Redby in Denmark and Puttgarden in Germany is scheduled to be completed in 2021.
Jensen told Politiken newspaper ”it could be in cycling, both track and road.”
”We can also offer venues for football and handball and we are building the brand new venue, the Copenhagen Royal Arena.”
The recently approved International Olympic Committee (IOC) Agenda 2020 allows more flexibility in bid concepts allowing venues to be located across borders in exceptional situations, and when cost and legacy issues can be improved. The new reform has yet to be tested in front of the IOC electorate, and doesn’t necessarily support “joint” bids.
The invitation phase for the 2024 Olympic Games began last January 15 and thus far Boston, Hamburg and Rome have declared candidacy. Paris, Budapest, Baku and other are also considering bidding for the 2024 Games. The application deadline is September 15 and the final decision will occur mid-2017 in Lima, Peru.
