Olympics 2018: Hörmann on Russia’s question about lifting sanctions

For DOSB President Alfons Hörmann, it would be too early to lift the suspension of Russia’s National Olympic Committee. Olympic Games in Germany remain “on our agenda”.

“To this day, we have not been able to perceive any humble, repentant or even apologizing positioning of the Russian team,” said Hörmann:”There is a lack of faith in the fact that it has already arrived and been processed in the minds.

The two doping cases in Pyeongchang (Bob-pilot Nadezhda Sergeyeva and Curler Alexander Kruschelnitsky)”lead to the fact that we don’t want a too fast form of the’ reset mode’ and don’t consider it appropriate”, said Hörmann:”A team that has acted in such a way and violated the rules of sport in such a way can perhaps also benefit from it, if the observation team is not able to do so.

The International Olympic Committee with German President Thomas Bach is still discussing whether the “Olympic athletes from Russia” will be allowed to wear their national colours again at the closing ceremony of the Winter Games on Sunday. A decision could not be made until Sunday.

Hörmann has, however, held out the prospect of a further German bid for the Olympic Games more clearly than ever since the failed attempt with Hamburg.

“The vision of the Olympic Games in Germany remains on our agenda, often with three exclamation marks,”said Hörmann.

Hörmann did not mention a time frame. The Summer Games will be awarded to Paris (2024) and Los Angeles (2028) until 2028, and the host of the 2032 Games will be elected in 2025. The Winter Games in four years’ time will take place in Beijing. Time would be too short for an advance for the 2026 games, which will be awarded next year.

“This discussion has been going on for some time now and has been stepped up again in Germany in the last few days. We will develop a plan – 100 percent coordinated with the Ministry of the Interior,”said Hörmann. He referred to a passage in the coalition agreement of a possible Grand Coalition of CDU and SPD, in which it is anchored that a strategy regarding future major sporting events is to be developed.

The outgoing Minister of the Interior, Thomas de Maiziere, also mentioned this during his visit to Pyeongchang, but he sounded more reserved than Hörmann:”I think the timing is too early,”said de Maiziere:”We must gradually move towards a situation where there is popular agreement that something like this should be organised. This will be initiated by the new German government with sport and other players.”

Amongst others former chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who spoke out in favour of Berlin’s renewed bid for the Olympics during his visit to Pyeongchang, had fired up the discussion most recently. Recently, the DOSB had failed with the campaigns for Hamburg 2024 (summer) and Munich 2022 (winter) due to the vote of the citizens. Munich had clearly lost its bid for the current Winter Games in 2011 against Pyeongchang at the IOC election in Durban.