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Armin Laschet's dream of the Olympic Games on the Rhine and Ruhr will probably be over before it really starts.

In the race for the Olympic Games in 2032, North Rhine-Westphalia received a rebuff from the IOC.

The executive branch of the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday declared Brisbane, Australia, the preferred candidate for hosting the Summer Games in eleven years.

According to President Thomas Bach, the IOC leadership “unanimously” followed the proposal of a new evaluation commission and made the Queensland region a favorite at an early stage.

As a result of the decision, negotiations will now only be conducted with the Australians for the time being.

If these go well, Brisbane will be proposed to the IOC General Assembly as the host for the 2032 Games.

This means that other interested parties are currently lagging behind.

In addition to the private initiative for the summer games on the Rhine and Ruhr, Qatar, Budapest and the Chinese cities of Chengdu and Chongqing also had plans to apply.

But Bach emphasized: “This is not a decision against anyone.

It is only a vote for a prospect at this point. "

The Olympic Committee around President Thomas Bach prefers the Australian application

Source: Getty Images / Lintao Zhang

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It was only on Tuesday that North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) said that a “decisive phase” was now dawning for the Rhine-Ruhr Initiative.

"There has been a chance for a German application for a long time," he said.

On Friday he wants to speak to the mayors of the participating cities about the planned public survey.

This could be coupled with the federal election on September 26, as Alfons Hörmann, President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, said.

Citizens' polls should provide clarity

The Olympic applications planned in the past in Munich and Hamburg were stopped by public surveys.

Hörmann spoke of a short window of time until early autumn in order to get a vote from the citizens.

The Corona crisis could influence the vote, said Hörmann.

However, the majority approval of the citizens and secure funding is a mandatory basis for an application, stressed the DOSB boss.

Due to the IOC decision for Brisbane, however, the chances of a German application have decreased significantly.

The IOC research group around the Norwegian Kristin Kloster Aasen was most convinced of Australia's plans.

The evaluation commission was set up as part of a changed application process.

The reform of the previous selection process happened in 2019, of all things, on the recommendation of a working group led by Australian IOC Vice President John Coates.

After the vote in favor of Brisbane, this piquant detail should raise some uncomfortable questions for the ring circle.

Bach denied on Wednesday that Coates had any influence on the decision of the evaluation committee.