The Cologne-Rhine-Ruhr region in Germany has strengthened its bid to host the 2036, 2040 or 2044 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. The updated proposal includes a record 17.6 million tickets, which would be around 3.5 million more than originally planned and more than at any previous Olympic and Paralympic Games.
North Rhine-Westphalia Minister-President Hendrik Wüst described the proposal as an opportunity to create the biggest Games ever. The bid aims to offer more spectators the chance to attend events than at recent Games in Paris, Los Angeles and London.
The main idea behind the bid is to use existing infrastructure rather than building large numbers of new venues. Events would take place in existing, adapted or temporary facilities across the region.
Several changes have been made to increase spectator capacity. Water polo would be held at Duisburg-Nord Landscape Park, boxing finals would move to Ruhrstadion in Bochum, and all football finals would be played at Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund, which can accommodate up to 70,000 spectators. Important hockey matches would take place at Borussia-Park in Mönchengladbach, while Düsseldorf would host events such as handball, basketball and volleyball.
The updated plan would also improve athlete accommodation. Around 96% of athletes would stay in the Olympic and Paralympic Village in Cologne, with the average journey to their competition venue expected to take less than 34 minutes.
The organisers are also considering creating small Athletes Performance Centres at competition venues. These would work like smaller Olympic Villages, allowing athletes to travel from Cologne shortly before their events and stay closer to their competition venue.
Transport is another major part of the proposal. The Rhein-Ruhr-Express train network would become the main Olympic transport route connecting Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, Düsseldorf and Cologne. Additional trains, buses, trams and shuttle services would be used, while temporary cycling routes would also be introduced.
Germany’s Olympic bid will be decided on 26 September in Baden-Baden, when the German Olympic Sports Confederation will determine which candidate region should represent the country in the international bidding process.
The Cologne-Rhine-Ruhr proposal currently has the support of 16 cities and has received 66% support across the region. Other German cities, including Munich and Berlin, are also interested in hosting the Games, while Hamburg has withdrawn after residents showed limited support for the proposal.
If Cologne-Rhine-Ruhr is selected and eventually wins the international bid, Germany would host the Summer Olympics for the first time since the 1972 Munich Games.
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