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Hamburg's Residents Reject City's 2024 Olympics Bid With 51.6% Voting 'NO'

Voters rejected Hamburg's bid to host the 2024 Olympics in a regional referendum on Sunday, leaving only L.A., Paris, Rome and Budapest in the running to host the Summer Games. With all votes counted in Hamburg and nearby Kiel, 51.6% of voters said no and 48.4% said yes, according to the bid committee and public broadcaster NDR. Approximately 650,000 people, or about 50% of the region's population, participated. "The result is a bitter pill for us to swallow, but a democratic decision must simply be accepted," Hamburg 2024 Bid Committee CEO Nikolas Hill said. Polls published prior to the vote showed majority support for the bid, and a bid committee spokeswoman said she was confident just four days earlier. On Sunday, Hill blamed external factors for suppressing support, specifically the Paris terrorist attacks, explosive allegations that German football officials bribed FIFA to win the 2006 World Cup and the Syrian refugee crisis. He also mentioned the IAAF athletics doping scandal involving Russian athletes. "None of these topics I would see have a direct connection to the Olympic agenda," Hill said. "But it still irritates and determines for people whether they should be in support or not." Nevertheless, the vote is another political loss for the IOC, which saw several desirable cities back out of the 2022 Winter Games campaign due to local opposition. Munich voters stymied a '22 bid almost exactly two years ago. Earlier this year, the USOC backed away from Boston as its choice in the '24 race after opinion polls showed clear majority opposition. Last December, the IOC implemented Agenda 2020, a package of reforms meant to make bidding more affordable, and to encourage austerity and sustainability. Hill said that the Olympics movement should still pursue those reforms on their own merits even if it did not convince local voters. None of the other four bid cities in the '24 race have plans for a voter referendum.

FAILED PROJECT: Bid opponents celebrated the results of the referendum. "The Olympic dreams of [Hamburg's] Senate have burst," Michael Rothschuh, a member of the NOlympia Hamburg initiative, said. "Olympic Games would have significantly reduced the city's capabilities of creating a fair future. It remains to be seen whether the Senate and the Chamber of Commerce have learned from their defeat and won't resurrect their failed project in four years." In Kiel, which would have hosted the Olympic sailing events, 65.57% voted in favor of bidding for the Games. However, the city's two-third majority was irrelevant in the end. German Olympic Committee (DOSB) President Alfons Hörmann thanked the people in Kiel for their support. "Unfortunately our country is missing out on a chance [to stage] the world's biggest festival," Hörmann said. The last time Germany hosted the Olympics was in '72 when Munich staged the event. An IOC spokesperson said, "Having followed the discussions in Germany over the last weeks, this result does not come a complete surprise. With this decision a great opportunity for the city, the country and the sport in Germany is lost."

Assistant Managing Editor HJ Mai contributed to this report.

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