EN
Olympic Stadium Berlin with the bowl for the olympic fire 1936 ©Horst Milde
Save the Berlin Olympic Stadium!
Influential powers are currently in the process of trying to dismantle the traditional Olympic Stadium.
The cult venue for top-notch international athletics events, which housed the 1936 Olympic Games, the 2009 World Championships, and the 2018 European Championships, numerous German Championships, national competitions, and the unique ISTAF Berlin, was the showplace of countless world records (16 World records have been tied or broken in the history of the ISTAF) and personal bests, as well as the turning point for the 25 km Berlin Run and friendship run of the BERLIN MARATHON, could in a few years be turned into an arena dedicated exclusively for football.
According to the Bundesliga club Hertha BSC, the redesigned stadium would be ‘loud, steep, and close'.
Although slow to start, the protest by the friends of athletics, the German Athletics Association (DLV), the Berlin Athletics Association (BLV) and German Road Races (GRR) is becoming massive.
"Everyone who cares about athletics and historical sports venues must now join together in a concentrated effort, for instance, with an online petition with tens of thousands of signatures," says chairman of German Road Races and former race director of the Berlin Marathon, Horst Milde. "We must counter these plans as fast as possible! The Berlin Olympic Stadium, like the Brandenburg Gate, is a world-renowned icon of German history, and the architecture must not be sacrificed for the business interests of a pro football club.
The Berlin Bundesliga club Hertha BSC is planning to either build a new stadium for its home games (within the grounds of the Olympic Stadium) or to redesign of the Berlin Olympic Stadium into an arena just for football. So far, these are the plans being discussed in the Berlin media, along with brief consideration about moving the stadium to the surrounding area of Brandenburg, which was rejected, however, by both the Hertha BSC members and the Berlin Senate.
Over the past few weeks, one could read in the press that the Senate surprisingly has conceded that it is principally feasible to redesign the Olympic Stadium into an arena just for football.
The Berlin daily newspaper Tagesspiegel, which has traditionally been a friend of athletics, called out those who would bring an end to the previous era of the Olympic Stadium. "An almost completed study by the architectural firm Gerkan, Marg & Partner (gmp) shows that it would be possible, according to a joint announcement by Deputy Mayor Michael Müller (SPD), Sports Senator Andreas Geisel (SPD) und the Hertha board on Friday."
That would most likely mean the end of an amazing era of athletics, which includes the world records by Usain Bolt (JAM) in the 100 m and 200 m (IAAF 2009 World Championships) – beginning with the legendary Jesse Owens (USA) in 1936 winning four gold medals at the Olympics.
"That would be an incredible scandal and submission to football, regardless of what the historic preservation organisations says to the plans, as the entire Olympic venue is historically protected," say Horst Milde and Gerd Steins, the president of the Forum for Sport History and the AIMS Marathoneum, which is also located on the Olympic grounds.
In a press release on Monday (May 22, 2017), Dr. Clemens Prokop, the president of the German Athletics Association (DLV), criticised plans for remodelling the stadium that eliminated the running track. "With such a repurposing of the Olympic Stadium, Berlin would thus remove not only any chance of ever securing the Olympic Games, but would also remove itself from its position in the first league of international sports metropolises.
The Olympic Stadium, which is of national and international importance as a sports venue, would be demoted from being the Olympic Stadium to being the Hertha BSC club stadium. That would not only mean a waste of millions of tax-payers dollars that were spent less than 15 years ago to renovate it, but even more millions would be needed to simply improve the atmosphere at the football games.
Gerhard Janetzky, the president of the Berlin Athletics Association (BLV) and longtime head of ISTAF Berlin, expressed his anger and disgust. "The Senate apparently is worried that they will lose the rental contract from Hertha BSC and quickly displayed a readiness to accommodate their wishes for a "better stadium". From the vantage point of athletics, this stadium is the track and field ‘living room'. The 2009 World Championships with Usain Bolt, countless German Championships, many ISTAF events, the 25 km of Berlin, and many other athletics events are (were?) home here."
At the same time, he describes the relocation of track and field events to the modest and dilapidated Jahn Stadium as a "pure farce". "After Berlin's unsuccessful bid for the Olympics, no significant funding has been provided for the rickety stadium. This would mean the end of international athletics in Berlin forever!"
DLV President Prokop paints a dark picture of the future of athletics in Berlin and in Germany in light of the threatening clouds rolling in.
"Saying goodbye to the Olympic Stadium means that there will be no more international athletics championships in Berlin and there will be no more World Championships in Germany. For this reason, we will fight to keep the track in the Olympic Stadium. Among other measures, together with the Berlin Athletics Association we will be launching the initiative "Save the Berlin Olympic Stadium" and will see if it is possible to petition for a referendum on it." Prokop is open, however, to plans to renovate the stadium that include the salvaging of the track.
These plans would integrate steep lower ring stands that could be rolled in and out, which would allow the track to be visible or concealed. The president of the DLV refuted the allegedly low numbers of spectators propagated by circles in the Senate (that only 15,000-20,000 spectators attended the World Championships and European Championships): "At the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, an average of 57,620 spectators watched from the stadium every day over the course of nine days of competition. In addition, there were record numbers of TV spectators, with 10 million viewers when Usain Bolt broke the world record in the 100 m finals.
In the budget for the European Championships in 2018 (August 7-18, 2018) created by the DLV and Berlin, the calculations include at least 45,000 paying spectators for each day of the event."
Also viewing these as dark days for athletics, Horst Milde, the initiator of numerous world-class running events such as the Berlin Marathon, agrees: "After losing Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg, we cannot allow German athletics to lose the last IAAF-approved track and field stadium".
German Road Races (GRR), as the voice of running and athletics in Germany, is protesting strongly – in the name of national and international athletics – against this action by Hertha BSC and the Berlin Senate to repurpose the traditional Berlin Olympic Stadium into a venue only for football, and together with the DLV, is calling on the everyone who cares about sports to support the efforts of "Save the Olympic Stadium" as quickly as possible.
Wilfried Raatz for German Road Races (GRR)
Address to send letters of protest:
The Mayor of Berlin
– Senate Chancellory –
Jüdenstr. 1
10178 Berlin
Germany
Send the e-mail to:
