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Hamburg or Berlin for German Olympic bid?

The Local Germany
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Hamburg or Berlin for German Olympic bid?
Berlin's Olympic Stadium (l) and the Olympic flag flying in front of Hamburg city hall. Photo: DPA

Old rivals Berlin and Hamburg are battling it out to become Germany's Olympic Games host bid hopefuls. But with both cities hit by building scandals and money worries, which is best placed to host the Olympic Games?

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Rival cities Berlin and Hamburg have kick-started their initial applications to host the Olympics in either 2024 or 2028.

The German Olympic Sports Federation (DOSB) is set to decide between which city to put forward to the International Olympic Committee as Germany's bid this December.

Yet hosting an Olympic Games is hard work. Not only are there all the new stadiums, venues and hotels to be built, but the transport system has to be up to scratch and the police and security services on top form.

Prestige projects, however, are not either city's forte, with Hamburg's catastrophic, long-delayed and way over-budget Elbphilharmonie concert hall proving almost as embarrassing as Berlin's airport-that-never-was.

And hosting the Games costs a lot of money, or rather a lot of taxpayer money. Convincing the residents of the benefits is never an easy job.

Berlin, for one, knows it will have a tough time. The city's senator for sport, Frank Henkel, said on Tuesday that winning public support for the bid would be indispensable.

"The ideas, concerns and wishes of Berliners must play a role in a potential application process. This will require developing new formats for civic involvement," he said.

But what do you think? Would it be a disaster if Berlin was given the Games? Or is Hamburg more likely to make a mess of it? 

More importantly, how would you feel if your city hosted the games? Have your say below.

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