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OLYMPICS

Munich plumps for ‘modern’ 2018 Olympics

German Olympic Committee (DOSB) chief Thomas Bach believes Munich, one of three official candidates for the 2018 winter Olympics, has everything it needs to deliver a "modern Games."

Munich plumps for ‘modern’ 2018 Olympics
Photo: DPA

“The competition will be fierce but nothing has been decided yet and there’s still a long way to go for all the candidates,” said Bach as the DOSB unveiled the logo that will accompany its bid on Friday.

“We already have superb sports infrastructure, and the athletes will be in very comfortable conditions. Our candidature meets all the criteria needed to host a modern Olympic Games.”

Munich – which staged the 1972 Summer Olympics – Pyeongchang, South Korea and the French town of Annecy were named the three official candidates to host the 2018 Games this week.

The 2010 Games are being held in Vancouver, while the 2014 Winter Olympics will be held in the Russian resort city of Sochi.

The DOSB aim to use some of the infrastructure that has been in use since the 1972 Olympics for the ice sports, while all the snow sports will be held in the nearby ski resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

DOSB chief Bach, who is also a vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said Munich’s bid has been met with enthusiasm in Germany.

He claimed around 50,000 people voted via internet for the official logo – a blue ‘M’ representing Munich in the shape of a mountain.

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MUNICH

Four injured as WWII bomb explodes near Munich train station

Four people were injured, one of them seriously, when a World War II bomb exploded at a building site near Munich's main train station on Wednesday, emergency services said.

Smoke rises after the WWII bomb exploded on a building site in Munich.
Smoke rises after the WWII bomb exploded on a building site in Munich. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Privat

Construction workers had been drilling into the ground when the bomb exploded, a spokesman for the fire department said in a statement.

The blast was heard several kilometres away and scattered debris hundreds of metres, according to local media reports.

Images showed a plume of smoke rising directly next to the train tracks.

Bavaria interior minister Joachim Herrmann told Bild that the whole area was being searched.

Deutsche Bahn suspended its services on the affected lines in the afternoon.

Although trains started up again from 3pm, the rail operator said there would still be delays and cancellations to long-distance and local travel in the Munich area until evening. 

According to the fire service, the explosion happened near a bridge that must be passed by all trains travelling to or from the station.

The exact cause of the explosion is unclear, police said. So far, there are no indications of a criminal act.

WWII bombs are common in Germany

Some 75 years after the war, Germany remains littered with unexploded ordnance, often uncovered during construction work.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about WWII bomb disposals in Germany

However, most bombs are defused by experts before they explode.

Last year, seven World War II bombs were found on the future location of Tesla’s first European factory, just outside Berlin.

Sizeable bombs were also defused in Cologne and Dortmund last year.

In 2017, the discovery of a 1.4-tonne bomb in Frankfurt prompted the evacuation of 65,000 people — the largest such operation since the end of the war in Europe in 1945.

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