Germany to bid for 2024 Olympics

BERLIN - Germany will submit a bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) announced in a press release on Tuesday.

The DOSB presidium agreed unanimously to submit a bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Germany; the candidates are either Berlin or Hamburg.

Besides that the DOSB also plans to bid for the 2028 Olympics, if the 2024 bid remains unsuccessful.

"The Olympic and Paralympics games are the most important event for the German sport," DOSB president Alfons Hoermann said in an official statement.

The final candidates will be elected on March 21 2015 by the general assembly of the DOSB.

Until now, there are no official candidates for the 2024 Summer Olympics. However, the United States, Istanbul, Doha, Paris and Rome have been named as possible bidders. The candidate for the Olympic games will be elected by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) in 2017.

Germany already hosted the Summer Olympics in 1936 and in 1972. While the Olympics in 1936 were abused by the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler, the games in 1972 were overshadowed by the killings of Israeli athletes.

Germany's last bid, for the Winter Olympics in 2018, were rejected via a local referendum in Munich. This may also happened to the upcoming bids as Berlin and Hamburg are planning referendums as soon as a candidate has been picked in March.