According to a recent telephone poll of German residents on whether they support their city in a bid for the 2024 Olympic Games, Hamburg had 64 per cent support against Berlin’s 55 per cent.
The Forsa telephone poll involved 1,500 residents in each city, and the margin of error was 2.5 percentage points.
German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) president Alfons Hoermann said, “we are delighted with the huge acceptance of Olympic and Paralympic Games”.
This will be good news for the DOSB as the new poll results mark a significant improvement from last year for both potential candidates.
The German committee’s board will recommend Monday which one of the cities will represent Germany, with the formal decision to be made March 21 by the full assembly of the NOC.
DOSB Chief Michal Vesper told euronews “well, it certainly is a difference in the numbers, that is right. But we always said that this is not the only criteria.”
“We will debate with our head associations and with experts over the weekend.”
Hamburg Mayor Olaf Scholz said the poll results “were a great compliment” and the city would be “very honored” to bid for the Games.
Either city will hold a referendum on the bid if selected; the application deadline is September 15.
Boston and Rome are the only two declared cities so far to bid for the 2024 Games but Paris, Istanbul, Budapest, Baku and Doha are also considering entering the competition. The IOC will elect a host in 2017 in Lima, Peru.
