POSTED: March 4th 2011
InDepth
Hoeness turns back clock with 2018 Winter Games goal in mind
KEIR RADNEDGE in Munich / Sports Features Communications
MUNICH, Mar 03: No-one could have felt more at home in Munich’s iconic Olympiastadion in welcoming the IOC evaluation commission – as he did Thursday - than Uli Hoeness.
For 19 years Hoeness played his club football in this stadium for record German football champions Bayern Munich of which he is now president. More than that, Hoeness was a World Cup-winner beneath the spider’s web of steel and glass against Holland in 1974.
Even better, however, in an Olympic context, he delayed turning professional so as to play for the then West Germany in the 1972 summer Olympic Games. The Germans were eliminated in the second round. Hoeness played in five of their six games, three of them in the Olympic stadium.
Now, even though 'his' Bayern left the complex five years ago for their Alianz Arena, Hoeness was happy to extol the virtues of the Olympia Park’s legacy. Munich, if it beats off opposition from Annecy and PyeongChang, would be the first city to have hosted summer and winter Games.
'Perfect . . . super'
Hoeness said: “Together with millions of German sports fans, I have wonderful memories of our Olympic Stadium. The Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2018 as would add a new chapter in its sensational history and continue the Olympic tradition of Munich for decades to come. The organisation would be perfect. It really would be super.”
The 70,000-capacity stadium would be the venue for Opening and Closing Ceremonies while the summer/winter transformation of venues would include converting the swimming pool into the curling rink.
Other 1972 venues for use in 2018 include the Olympia-Halle (for short track and figure skating) and the Event Arena (for ice hockey). A new Olympic Village would be created by taking over what is currently federal army premises.
Bid chair Katarina Witt said: “This was a strong message [about] the enduring 40-year sustainable legacy of the Olympic Park. It would then be transformed to leave another 40-year legacy after 2018.”
The commission also heard presentations on finance, marketing, technology and media operations.
Keywords · Munich 2018 · Winter Olympics · Hoeness
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