Hamburg 2024 Focused on Nov. 29 Referendum

(ATR) The fate of the Hamburg 2024 Olympic bid will be decided at the hands of the people at the Nov. 29 referendum.

Hamburg 2024 bid leader Nikolas Hill told Around the Rings the referendum is the number one priority for the bid team during a one-on-one interview while at the ANOC general assembly in Washington, D.C.

Hill and five others representing the German bid used their time at the ANOC assembly to introduce themselves to IOC members and to hear which criteria are most important in the selection process. Key figures included DOSB president Alphons Hoermann, secretary general Michael Vesper, elite sport chief Bernhard Schwank and 2024 communications director Susanne Jahrreiss. Claudia Bokel and Thomas Bach are the two IOC members in Germany, both present at the ANOC assembly.

"To have the possibility to gather to talk about their perspective on the process and the advice they can give in general to their point of the view of the main criteria of their decision, it’s most important," he tells ATR.

Hill refrained from guaranteeing support for the bid at the referendum, but said they should have the number of required participants.

"I don’t doubt that more than 20 percent of all of the people of Hamburg will take part in this decision, that’s at least the quorum we have to fulfill," Hill says.

In order for the Hamburg Olympic bid to become a reality, 20 percent out of 1.3 million citizens must support the bid, the equivalent of 260,000 yes votes.

Hill says the city is already receiving some of the ballots by post, approximately 14,000 according to the city. However, reports in German media suggest that ten percent of those votes were submitted incorrectly and will not count unless resubmitted.

The private company supporting the bid called Fire & Flames is now including picture instructions on how to properly submit the ballot in the packet of information given to voters regarding the referendum. The packet includes details about the Hamburg bid as well as information from the opposition group to the bid No Olympia Hamburg.

"We have good arguments to tell the people what the reasons are why we think it’s a good idea and they have to make up the minds themselves," Hill tells ATR, noting that early polling showed strong support for the bid.

"The polls show we have two thirds in favor of the bid. We are very positive and the bid itself is a very strong one in the sense that it has been an idea of the people of Hamburg and not a political idea," Hill says.

Although the bid team cannot run a public campaign to increase support of the bid, the bid along with the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) have hosted events for the launch and planning of the bid to engage the public. Hill says there have been seven such events, each drawing about 800 people.

"There been a large interest and people seem to find themselves part of the bid because it’s not something somebody else decided, they were able to take part in a large number."

Hill adds that the public support for the bid was what caused the DOSB to choose Hamburg over Berlin as the German candidate for the 2024 race.

If the Hamburg bid can garner enough support by Nov. 29, the bid team consisting of 25 members will shift its focus towards delivering a comprehensive Games’ vision to the IOC by the February 2016 deadline.

Hill tells ATR the Hamburg bid will feature one of the most compact venue plans in history, with less than 10 kilometers between most venues and the Olympic Village.

"This is a bid driven by the people. It’s a modest one and one that perfectly fits to the Agenda 2020."

He says the bid will rely primarily on existing venues to hold competitions during the Games, with modern renovations needed for some of them.

Hill says only four venues need to be fully constructed for the bid, three of which will be built in the to-be-constructed Olympic City. Hamburg will re-purpose an industrial area to house the Olympic Village, Olympic Stadium, Olympic Hall and the aquatics center for the Games.

"This is our vision, its sustainable within the city itself and something where the athletes will feel a very exciting experience here in the city."

Hill says the compact venue plan fits perfectly with the goals of Olympic Agenda 2020.

"We believe that the new Agenda is a possibility for us to have a concept that is tailored to the needs of the city as it suits the other development strategy of the city itself for the next decade."

Hamburg is also on-tap to host a series of world championships in the coming years, including the triathlon and boxing championships. Hill says hosting these events helps the bid team learn more about specific disciplines and what is needed to host each event.

Hill says the biggest challenge facing the bid is just staying focused through the entirety of this two-year process leading up to the IOC Session in Lima, Peru in 2017.

"It’s a very fast track on one side because the two years will fly over but on the other hand it’s quite a long time to stay with this bid."

This is only the second time the city has made a push to host the Olympics and the first time it has been selected by the DOSB as the German candidate. Hamburg was beaten by Leipzig in the competition to host the 2012 Games.

If selected by the IOC in 2017 over Budapest, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome, Hamburg would host the fifth Olympics in Germany and just the first since the 1972 Games in Munich.

Written by KevinNutley

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribersonly.