The Ruhr region's Olympic battle: Wattenscheid is not Paris, but still "amazing"

The Rhine-Ruhr region dreams of hosting the Olympic Games. The dream is set to come true in the next decade or the decade after. The "World University Games" is a test run—and a challenge.

Louise Wieland couldn't understand anything. It was so loud. On Saturday evening, she stood ready as the starting runner in the German 4x100-meter relay and waved to the camera. She didn't hear what the announcer in Wattenscheid's Lohrheide Stadium said. Then suddenly, it fell silent. Wieland and the starting runners from the other nations went into the starting blocks. A shot, a commotion, and victory in the preliminary heat. "It was so incredibly loud," said Talea Prepens, who ran the second half in front of the packed main grandstand, in an interview with ntv.de.

The penultimate evening of the "World University Games," a kind of mini-Olympics, is underway in Wattenscheid. For ten days, 8,500 athletes have been visiting the Ruhr region and Berlin. They are competing for records. They are fighting for gold, silver, and bronze. And the region is pursuing its age-old dream of finally hosting the major games, the Summer Olympics. The World University Games are a test run. One that reveals the potential, but also serious problems.

Things are going crazy in the Jahrhunderthalle

The competitions are usually not as crowded or as atmospheric as on Saturday evening in Wattenscheid. Not in the modernized Lohrheide Stadium, not at the other competition venues between Hagen and Duisburg. One exception: the 3x3 basketball tournament in Bochum's Jahrhunderthalle. There, a gigantic party took place in front of a sold-out crowd. Of course, the number of seats was limited, but demand was significantly higher. The sport has been experiencing a hype since last year, since the Olympic debut and the German gold medal. Elisa Mevius was part of the team in Paris and is also part of it in Bochum. "Totally crazy, unrealistic," she describes the atmosphere in the pop-up venue in the old blower machine hall.

Paris is the new benchmark for Olympic flair. Bochum, Wattenscheid, Hagen, Essen, Duisburg—that sounds like the terrible antithesis of the city of love. A blow of fate, as hard as jam. Not rosy, not shockingly in love. No, gray, sad, worn out. A forgotten world that once flourished, black and smoky, now defiantly raises its finger and shouts: We're still here. In the fight for international attention, but in the fight with Berlin, Munich, and Hamburg.

Germany finally wants to host the Summer Games again. Perhaps in 2036, perhaps 2040, or another four years later. Currently, there's a struggle over which region in the country has the most prospects. A decision isn't expected for about a year. It's good for North Rhine-Westphalia, for the Ruhr region, that they can now put themselves in the spotlight. A group of athletes from Uganda, who watched the competitions at the Lohrheide Stadium on Saturday evening, definitely found it "amazing," thought it "cool." Looking over the roofs of the stands, they saw the old, gigantic floodlight masts that once illuminated the iconic footballers of SG Wattenscheid 09, such as Souleymane Sané and Uwe Tschiskale. And they saw the winding tower of the Holland mine.

Great opportunity was missed

It's not the beauty of the Eiffel Tower that shines here. Not Notre Dame, nor the Arc de Triomphe. It's the (industrial) legacy of the black-and-gold era that's being showcased. The Jahrhunderthalle as a venue for 3x3 basketball. The Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex for archery. Tennis was played on the red clay court of the ETUF Essen, where Boris Becker, John McEnroe, and Steffi Graf once played.

But despite all the romantic connotations of the past, the "World University Games" haven't reached the Ruhr region where they wanted to. They haven't made it into people's minds. While there were extensive posters, the campaign apparently didn't catch on. (Too) many people didn't realize that top-class sport was being offered right on their densely populated doorsteps for a fair price. This may also have been due to the cumbersome term that was thrown at them: FISU Games. Teachers and many students from the region see a missed opportunity in the lack of advertising for the event.

A key lobbyist for the Rhine-Ruhr region's Olympic dream is North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister-President Hendrik Wüst. "With the FISU World University Games, we're demonstrating that we're capable of hosting major sporting events," he said at the opening ceremony of the largest multi-sport event after the Olympics. "We're also presenting a calling card for a potential Olympic bid." How well this is being received by the International Olympic Committee, which has representatives on site?

Olympic bid "no sure thing"

The president of the FISU (International University Sports Federation), Leonz Eder, sees the University Games as an opportunity, but also risks. For Germany, he primarily sees image problems, as he told the Funke Media Group: "What's a problem right now: the economic difficulties, the problems with the railways, strikes, the infrastructure that's 30, 40 years behind. As an observer, you take note of this and ask yourself: Will this have an impact on future bids? Don't the people making the decisions ask themselves: Will rail or air travel actually work in the end?" Eder said. A German Olympic bid is "not a sure thing."

Hardly any other FISU Games venue reveals the gap between infrastructural prehistoric times and modern facilities more than the Lohrheide Stadium, which has been renovated at a cost of tens of millions to become the most modern athletics arena in the country. The route to the arena leads through a small street in a run-down industrial area. It's almost hard to imagine that FC Bayern Munich once came here to play Bundesliga football. But that's how it must have been. The road to the stadium was as bumpy as the road to the games. The budget, initially set at €113 million, grew to around €160 million. The federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia each contributed €67.5 million, and the state invested an additional €44 million in the renovation of existing sports facilities. Düsseldorf withdrew as a host city due to the additional costs. Berlin took over at short notice to save the project.

What casts another shadow over the event: According to research by the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" and Deutschlandfunk, the organizers are said to have attracted attention in advance due to irregularities in the tender process.

The Olympic Games, meanwhile, would be a project in a completely different realm. The Summer Games could cost three to six billion euros. Would that find broad support in a chronically structurally weak region with many concerns? Wüst recently left open how much would be needed in North Rhine-Westphalia: "The planning stage is far too early for a price tag," the Minister-President emphasized when presenting the bid concept. "There won't be enormous costs that are solely for the Olympics."

The concept relies heavily on existing infrastructure, but also plans for spectacular staging: The swimming competitions are to take place in the Schalke 04 football arena in front of 60,000 spectators. A temporary stadium is planned for the athletics, connected to an Olympic Village yet to be built. Are these visions viable? At least in the Lohrheide Stadium, on Saturday evening, one can imagine it for a few moments.