The private initiative was organised by the founders of Hamburg’s Miniatur Wunderland, the world’s largest model railway museum, and attended by members of the Hamburg 2024 Bid Committee.

"I’m overwhelmed by the strong support from the citizens of Hamburg and of the entire region," said Nikolas Hill, chief executive of Hamburg 2024.

"It is an impressive demonstration of the city’s enthusiasm for the Games and a warm invitation to the Olympic community from Hamburg’s citizens."

Marco Frigatti, chief adjudicator of Guinness World Records, was on hand to officially confirm the world record, which was captured from helicopters, drones, and an 80-metre-high aerial platform.

"Mind-blowing - I still can’t fathom it," said Frederik Braun, the event's initiator. 

"We here in Hamburg have created an image that will be seen all over the world and that demonstrates how fired up we are to hold the Olympics in our great city."

Hamburg 2024 had claimed 10,000 people turned up but Guinness World Records counted at the actual figure at just over 6,000.

It was, nevertheless, still a world record, doubling the previous best effort. 

Gerrit Braun, Frederik’s brother and co-initiator, added: "The pictures are incredible.

"I would never have thought that so many people would respond to our call and do their bit for the Olympic Games.

"That’s a sign of real enthusiasm.

"Who knows, perhaps the Rings were even visible from outer space?

"We’d love to know whether they were recorded by a satellite."

A crucial public referendum into whether Hamburg should stage the 2024 Games begun earlier this month with ballot papers being distributed to residents.

Around 1.3 million people in Hamburg and a further 200,000 in nearby Kiel, where sailing events will take place if the city is successful in its bid, are eligible to take part in the vote, with the referendum itself scheduled for November 29.

Support for the bid remains mixed, but German organisers have been boosted by a recent opinion poll indicating how 63 per cent of local residents are in favour of the attempt for what would be the first Olympics to be held in the country since Munich 1972.

The referendum, the result of which is expected either on November 29 or 30, will allow the Bid Committee to gauge the feeling of residents towards the bid, it is claimed.

It comes two years before the International Olympic Committee is due to elect its chosen host at the 2017 Session in the Peruvian capital Lima.

Hamburg is one of five cities bidding along with fellow European contenders Budapest, Rome and Paris, as well as Los Angeles.



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