Berlin pulls its bid to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Berlin will retract its application to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games, a move announced at a Thursday press briefing. The announcement followed a closed session with Governing Mayor Kai Wegner, Sports Senator Iris Spranger and the city’s Olympic commissioner Kaweh Niroomand. Berlin’s joint effort with Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saxony, known as Berlin+, had scored lower than Munich and the KölnRheinRuhr alliance in the German Olympic Sports Confederation’s assessment.

The bid had been under fire from a strong “NOlympia” campaign and the recent opposition voiced by Left Party’s Elif Eralp after her party’s electoral win. With the withdrawal, the DOSB’s upcoming vote in Baden-Baden will decide between Munich and KölnRheinRuhr as Germany’s sole candidate for the International Olympic Committee’s 2036 selection.