UPDATED - Voters Reject Munich 2022 Olympic Bid

(ATR) Voters in Bavaria reject a Munich 2022 bid with Germany Olympic committee officials indicating the city would not bid again for the forseeable future.

Requiring a majority in four Bavarian districts, the referendum went down to defeat in each of them.

German officials said they would only go forward with a bid if a majority of voters in the Munich, Traunstein, Berchtesgaden, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen districts backed the Olympic ambitions.

In Munich, 52.1 percent voted against. But the turnout was low - only 28.9 percent of the electorate voted.

It was a similar story in Garmisch-Partenkirchen where 51.56 percent of the electorate rejected plans to bid for the Games

In the community of Berchtesgaden, 64.1 percent voted no, while in Traunstein 59.7 percent voted against.

Michael Vesper, the DOSB secretary general, said the Olympic committee was "very disappointed" that voters had turned down the chance to contest the 2022 bid race. Munich would have started out as one of the favorites after coming second to PyeongChang in the 2018 contest.

"It's astonishing that we have lost in Garmisch-Partenkirchen although with the last concept for 2018, which was worse, we had won. This shows that there are other reasons for these results."

Referencing the successful Germany FIFA World Cup, he added: "It's a pity that after the summer fairytale in 2006, we will not have a winter fairytale in 2022."

President of the German Ski Association Alfons Hormann, the incoming DOSB president, also couldn’t hide his disappointment with the emphatic defeat for the Munich 2022 plan.

"This will weaken our work on the basis of sport. But we know now that it's not worth to keep on working on an Olympic winter bid with Munich."

ATR understands that the DOSB had expressed confidence in a positive outcome right up to the eve of the referendum based on strong vocal backing in each of the four communities. But one DOSB source said that when it came to people casting their votes, many of those who had pledged their support had stayed at home.

Every political party except the Greens had campaigned in favor of the Olympics in Bavaria.

"This is not a mark against the sport, but a clear stand against the greed and lack the IOC," said Ludwig Hartmann leader of the Green Party in the Bavarian Parliament to Spiegel Online.

Rejection of a Munich bid leaves five or six likely candidates for the 2022 Winter Games.

Almaty, Kazakhstan, Beijing/Zhangjiakou, China,Krakow, Poland, Lviv, Ukraine, and Oslo, Norway are expected to submit their applications by the IOC's Nov. 14 deadline. The Swedish Olympic committee will decide on Monday night whether to submit a bid from Stockholm.

Written byAaron Bauer and Mark Bisson

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