POSTED: Friday May 6th 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MUNICH 2018'S SUSTAINABILITY CONCEPT SHINES IN PUBLIC DEBATE

Prominent political figures offer public backing

Munich, 6 May 2011: Munich 2018 reiterated its pledge to deliver a sustainable Festival of Friendship and the first ever carbon-neutral Winter Games in last night’s productive public debate at BMW’s Munich headquarters.

The animated discussion explored ‘What a Winter Games in 2018 would bring to Munich’ and was led by: Katarina Witt, Chair of the Munich 2018 Bid Committee; Joschka Fischer, Germany’s former Foreign Minister and Green Party member; Christian Ude, the Mayor of Munich; Christian Stickl, Director of the Oberammergau Passion Play; and Katharina Schulze, Leader of the Green Party in Munich. The panellists took questions from a floor of over 300 influential guests, including representatives from both the ‘OlympiJA’ and ‘NOlympia’ groups and local government, business and sport leaders. The event typified the open and frank approach to public consultation the Munich 2018 Bid Committee has pursued from the very beginning.

Katarina Witt highlighted what a Winter Games in Munich could mean for the development of German sport and a number of Munich 2018 sports ambassadors were on hand to offer their perspective on the bid’s athlete-friendly attributes. Witt said: 

‘Our bid has been developed with a core focus on the athletes and their needs. Existing sports centres in Bavaria will be modernised to boost community and professional sports facilities to the highest possible level. These investments go far beyond 2018 and will benefit German sport as a whole for years to come. Munich 2018 will leave a powerful sporting and social legacy for Bavaria and Germany, and become a blueprint for ensuring mega-events’ long-term benefits to communities.’

Joschka Fischer, a high-profile political commentator and a popular and respected member of the Green Party, gave Munich 2018 his unequivocal vote of confidence:

‘I support the bid wholeheartedly. It is good for our country and for the region to promote ourselves. Let’s take this opportunity!’

Fischer went on to underline the importance of healthy debate:

‘Discussions for and against are nothing new for us. In fact, in our country, they’re perfectly normal. What’s more, constructive criticism leads to the improvement of a project.’

Katarina Witt echoed Fischer’s positivity:

‘The most important measure of public support is the atmosphere at events. We have proven our passion for winter sports at 12 World Cups and 3 World Championships this season alone, and for many years.’

The Bid Committee took the chance to listen to different opinions from the diverse audience and put forward its strong sustainability concept for a Winter Games that promises a wave of modernisation across the region. Germany and Bavaria have been benefitting from the legacy of the 1972 Games for 40 years and hosting the 2018 Winter Games would ensure this legacy is extended for another 40 years. 

Christian Ude stressed the huge development potential in an Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Munich. He said:

‘The special character and atmosphere of Munich as a cosmopolitan city has a lot to do with the Olympic Games of 1972. Now we have the opportunity to write another unique chapter with the use of venues for both a Summer and a Winter Games. Should we win the right to host the 2018 Winter Games, the Olympic Park would be expanded with more greenery and benefit from ecologically upgraded facilities and two new modern multi-purpose halls. With the new Olympic Village and the Media Village, more than 1,300 state of the art, energy-plus housing units will be built, and this is something that has never been achieved before by a Games.’

Ude went on to emphasise that he has ‘never witnessed a large project in Germany that enjoys such public and political support so many years before it actually takes place.’

Preparations are well underway for the all-important technical presentation to the IOC in Lausanne on 18 May 2011. In these last few critical months for the Candidate City the BMW Countdown Clock is ticking down every second until the Host City decision is made in Durban on 6 July 2011. On the day of the decision, BMW World will host a big countdown party and there will be a public viewing of the live presentation and announcement at the Marienplatz in the heart of the city.

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picture 1
Katarina Witt, Chair of Munich 2018, and Joschka Fischer, former German foreign minister, at the debate

picture 2
Last night’s public debate was held at BMW’s Munich headquarters

Background
Munich, in collaboration with Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Berchtesgadener Land, is applying to host the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The application will be put together and managed by Bewerbungsgesellschaft München 2018 GmbH, with Katarina Witt as Chair, Bernhard Schwank as CEO and Jürgen Bühl as Managing Director. Shareholders in the application organisation are the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) with 51 per cent, the City of Munich (30 per cent), the Free State of Bavaria (nine per cent), the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (eight per cent) and the district of Berchtesgadener Land (two per cent). The bid is being supported by national sponsors Adidas, Allianz, the BMW Group, BayWa, Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Post, Flughafen München GmbH, Lotto Bayern, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, METRO GROUP, and the Sparkasse Finance Group, along with national suppliers ARGE (Albert Speer & Partner and PROPROJEKT), Deloitte, Getty Images, GfK Verein, IMMO 2018, Messe München GmbH, Norton Rose LLP, Munich Olympic Park, pilot sport and Stadtwerke München GmbH. More information about the concept, the progress of the application and many other aspects can be found at http://www.muenchen2018.org/en.

Bewerbungsgesellschaft München 2018 GmbH
Munich 2018 Bid Committee
Olympiapark München
Spiridon-Louis-Ring 21
80809 München

Responsible for contents:
Bernhard Schwank and Jürgen Bühl

Press Contact:
Simone Seefried
Agnes-Pockels-Bogen 1
80992 München
Telephone: +49 89 540428-317
Mobile: +49 176 840 532 26
E-Mail: presse@muenchen2018.org

Online Press Area:
http://www.muenchen2018.org/en/press

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Keywords · Munich 2018 · Thomas Bach · Katarina Witt · Bernhard Schwank · Joschka Fischer

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Name: Simone Seefried
Organization: Munich 2018 Bid Committee
Email:
Phone: 4989540428317
URL: http://www.muenchen2018.org

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