News that Paris had officially entered the race to host the 2024 Olympic Games "was perhaps less painful" for Hamburg politician Wolfgang Schmidt than the accompanying punctuation, according to Leesha McKenny of THE AGE. As it had done in previous reports, the N.Y. Times used last week's French announcement to lay out the growing pile of contenders; a field so far comprising "Rome, Budapest, Boston and Hamburg, Germany." Schmidt: "I want to get rid of the 'comma, Germany.' Take a look at the non capital cities that hosted the Olympics." He credits the 1992 Games as building the int'l profile of Barcelona. Schmidt: "Everybody still knows Atlanta. Everybody still knows Salt Lake City." But not everybody knows much about Germany's second-largest city, "which was selected by the country's National Olympic Committee in March after polling found Hamburg's residents were more enthusiastic about the idea than those of Berlin." Hamburg is building its pitch around new facilities on an inner-city island and the promise to host a "compact, sustainable" games, capitalizing on its ample waterways and reputation as one of Europe's greenest cities. Events "would be held" within 10km of its center. In a week when Paris declared its rival €6B bid "would include events in front of the Eiffel Tower, this also meant Hamburg's vision avoided promising any grand architectural gestures, and so far, setting a price tag." Some figures "are slated for release ahead of November, when residents will decide through a referendum whether to go ahead with the campaign for 2024." Hamburg Institute of Int'l Economics Head of Environment & Climate Research Sven Schulze said, "People in Hamburg, some care about this sustainable aspect. But most care about the cost" (THE AGE, 6/30).
