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 "It is bitter that Almaty and Beijing are the only ones left," he
told a regional event on Tuesday evening. "It is now clear that
Munich would have been served the Games on a silver platter."
The unusually bold statement from the German Olympic Confederation
president (DOSB) comes only days after he announced Hamburg as
Germany's bid for the 2024 summer Olympics.
Munich, which failed to land the 2018 Olympics, did not even launch
a bid for 2022 after the DOSB's plans where resoundly rejected in
referendums by the local population in 2013.
This is not the first time German sports officials have expressed
regrets for what they consider a missed opportunity as the list of
candidates for 2022 decreased, leaving just two cities, neither of
which has the winter sports tradition and infrastructure of
Bavaria's Alps.
Kazakhstan's Almaty and Beijing are the only runners remaining from
an initial six with Krakow, Stockholm, Lviv and Oslo all pulling out
citing cost concerns or lack of local support.
"We have to develop from a country of doubts to a country of
opportunities," Hoermann, who succeeded current IOC President Thomas
Bach as DOSB chief, said.
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The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which has voted in a
number of reforms to attract more cities to bid for future Olympics,
will elect the hosts in July.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann. Editing by Patrick Johnston)
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