E. Germans Support Olympics in Berlin

The East German sports federation said today it supports a bid by Berlin for either the 2000 or 2004 Olympic Games, and West German sports officials welcomed the announcement from the other side of the divided city.

“Our position is quite clear,” said Werner Neumann, a member of the secretariat of the East German sports federation, DTSB. “There is a growing interest from our side on this project.

“We favor the Olympic Games in Berlin whenever they would be given to us.”

Neumann’s comments and a statement released by the DTSB saying it “supports the idea of staging the Olympic Games in Berlin and Berlin West” were believed to be the first official DTSB comments supporting a Berlin Olympics.

Manfred von Richthofen, president of the West Berlin sports federation, said a committee should be set up to examine the possibility of a Summer Olympics bid for the city. He said he will meet Jan. 10 with East Berlin counterpart Rudi Ebmeyer.

Willi Daume, president of the West German Olympic Committee, said he welcomed the East German support for a Berlin Olympics. He said he will meet with DTSB officials in January to establish contacts between the groups.

The idea of a Berlin Olympics was suggested by former President Ronald Reagan and gained support from President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev during their recent summit meeting off Malta.

Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, said recently in a French newspaper interview that holding the Olympics in Berlin would be a “sign of peace.”

A proposal for Berlin to host the Games, possibly as soon as 2000, “is no longer a utopian ideal,” Samaranch said.

Neumann said it is not important whether the Games are held in 2000 or 2004 in Berlin and said the timing may depend on reunification of the city, saying Samaranch has expressed his opposition to holding the Olympics in divided cities.