Security Has Its Price - Large Sports Events

Security has its price - large sports events.* Atlanta 1996 - 10,486 / 13
Worldwide sports events, drawing the attention* Sydney 2000 - 16,062 / 34
of millions, issue a challenge for protection of such* Athens 2004 - 142,857 / 283 (source: Wall
mass gatherings. Due to high risk of terroristStreet Journal, Aug. 22, 2004)
attacks the organizers take great responsibilityA turning point in the rate of increase of the
for safety of all the competitors and spectators.costs was the attack on the World Trade Center
The well-known tragedy at the Olympics in Munichin 2001 - see the immense growth in 2004
in 1972 is a memento of a worst-case scenario. A(Athens).
group of Palestinian terrorists burst into theThe cost of security measures at Beijing 2008
Olympic village and took hostages. As the resultOlympics is not known yet, but it will probably
of unsuccessful action of the police, there werebeat the record. In Beijing alone there will be
killed 11 competitors from Israel, 5 terrorists, aninstalled 260,000 CCTV cameras. (source: China
one German policeman.Public Security International). Out of concern for
The cost of security measures at the Olympicsecurity, the organizers cooperate with best
Games in Los Angeles, 1984, was 79 million USD.safety experts from US and Israel.
With 6,829 competitors and 5,720,000 sold ticketsThe security budget for the Olympic Games in
it means 11,627 USD to one athlete and 14 USDLondon is planned to reach 400 million USD. The
to one fan.number of cameras in London will have been
At the next Olympics the costs of protection ofincreased to 500,000 (source: BusinessWeek, Aug.
a single competitor / a single spectator were15, 2005), which is difficult to imagine, also thinking
(USD):of the network of monitoring centers and the
* Seoul 1988 - 13,312 / 34number of the staff.
* Barcelona 1992 - 7,072 / 22