Germany open to joint bid with Israel for 2036 Olympics

BERLIN: The sports and interior minister for Berlin, Andreas Geisel, is open to the idea of a joint bid by Berlin and Tel Aviv to host the 2036 Olympic Games. This would "of course be a strong sign for peace and international understanding - in full awareness of our painful history and the abominable misuse of the Olympic idea by the National Socialists," Geisel told the Berliner Morgenpost paper, DPA reports. Tel Aviv and Berlin stand "for openness to the world, freedom and tolerance. These are the messages that radiate from a joint bid for the Olympic Games," Geisel said. The president of the German Olympic association Berlin, Richard Meng, and the managing director of the 2018 European athletics championship in Berlin, Frank Kowalski, suggested both cities should make the bid in a joint editorial published in the newspaper on Saturday.

Israel's Olympic Committee welcomed the idea of hosting the 2036 Olympic Games in Berlin. However, it didn't respond specifically to the suggestion of a joint bid.

"Holding the Olympic Games in Berlin, 100 years after Hitler's 1936 Olympics, will remind us all of the dark times we have experienced and send a strong message to the world of the values we must maintain," the committee said on Sunday. IANS

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