IOC Congress in Mumbai to decide fate of five hopeful sports
October 13, 2023
Forty years after New Delhi hosted the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) plenary assembly, the Congress is to be held in Mumbai in mid-October. While the Olympicmovement regards India as one of its emerging markets, the subcontinent has yet to host an Olympic Games. Apart from electing eight new IOC members, the addition of new sports to the Olympic program will be up for discussion on India's west coast.
What decisions are to be taken at the IOC Congress in Mumbai?
Eight new IOC members (four men, four women) nominated by its Executive Board are to be elected at the congress, including German sporting events manager Michael Mronz. He stands to become the third German IOC member, along with its president, Thomas Bach, and Britta Heidemann.
Originally, the congress in Mumbai was to vote on the awarding of the 2030 Winter Olympics. However, the IOC has postponed that decision until 2024 while it awaits a report on extended specifications and requirements for hosting the Winter Games, taking into account climate change and sustainability.
Another key item will be the report of the commission that looked at the sports to be included at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Which sports stand a chance of inclusion?
Having seen bids for squash to be included in the summer Olympics fail ahead of the 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024 Games, Zena Wooldridge, president of the World Squash Federation thinks 2028 could be their year.
"There are all kinds of innovations that can be brought to the sport to make it almost a combination of eSports and physical sports," Wooldridge said. "We've also been working to make the sport more attractive to spectators, such as putting the courts in unusual places like theaters."
Apart from squash, four other sports are bidding for inclusion at the Olympics: baseball-softball, cricket, flag football and lacrosse.
Will Germany bid for the Olympic Games again?
Germany hasn't hosted the Olympics since the 1972 Summer Games were hosted by Munich. In the past 20 years alone, four initiatives to submit a German bid to host the games have failed.
Undeterred, the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) is now working on drafting a new bid, which is to be finalized by the end of 2023. However, it already has a slogan: " Your ideas, your games." The DOSB has selected Berlin, Leipzig, Munich, Hamburg, and the Rhine-Ruhr region as potential co-hosts.
Michael Mronz, who led the failed Rhine-Ruhr private-sector Olympic initiative for 2032, is convinced that 2036 would be the right year for Germany to host the Games again.
"The 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games could be an opportunity to present a Germany that is open to the world, that is welcoming, that is sustainable," said the likely new IOC member.
However, there is significant opposition to the move. Green Party politician Christian Hierneis is a spokesman for the "NOlympia" network. In 2013, Hierneis spent weeks campaigning against a bid to host the 2022 Olympic Games in Munich, Garmisch, Ruhpolding and Berchtesgadener Land. His campaign was ultimately successful as the Olympic bid was overturned in a regional referendum. Ten years later, his opinion on hosting the Olympics – and the IOC has not changed.
"The IOC is purely a money-making operation," Hierneis told DW. "The host city contract alone, which organizing cities have to sign. It's a gagging contract, nothing has changed. The municipalities have to relinquish all rights but also bear the liability for all damages. And of course, these municipalities are also supposed to pay the IOC representatives who travel to the event and earn millions. That's where the money goes. That's brutal."
This article was originally published in German.