Terry Maddaford: Let's hope the mayor has got it right

COMMENT

Dora Bakoyannis, in a straight-faced interview, dismissed this week's bomb blasts in Athens as nothing more than a "domestic" incident - certainly no threat to Olympic security.

Brave words indeed from the city's mayor whose husband Pavlos, a respected journalist and politician, was gunned down 15 years ago by the "November 17" Greek terrorist group.

In these terror-filled days no one, surely, can dare to guarantee any high-profile, multi-national sporting event will be incident-free.

High-ranking Greek officials supported the mayor as they attempted to play down the detonation of three home-made bombs, even describing Athens as the world's safest place for the Olympic Games.

To back their stand, they pointed to the draconian security measures, the political culture of Greek citizens and their "friendly ties with the people of the Arab world and beyond". Really.

When eight Palestinian terrorists broke into the Olympic village in Munich in 1972 and killed 11 Israeli athletes - five of the terrorists and a policeman also died - the face of the Games changed forever.

In the face of that attack and subsequent acts, security has become big business. The bill for the Athens Games is already tipped to go beyond US$800 million ($1.27 billion).

In the aftermath of the Madrid bombing in March this year , when 10 bombs blew up four trains, Greek officials appealed to Nato for help in safeguarding the Olympics.

They have asked for aerial and sea surveillance against chemical, biological and nuclear incidents at the August 13-29 Games.

The Madrid bombings also made the Portuguese, preparing to host next month's Euro 2000 soccer championship, understandably edgy.

It is not a million kilometres from the Spanish capital to neighbouring Portugal where Europe's best footballers will be under scrutiny.

Last year the Chelsea Football Club refused to take up their allocation of tickets for their Champions League away match with Turkish club side Besiktas following bomb blasts in Istanbul which killed 27 people.

Threats, sadly, have become a way of life. Too often they become more than that. In 1997 the IRA made bomb threats in coded messages an hour before the Grand National at Aintree. Even at such late notice the race was postponed for 48 hours.

In May 2002 a bomb exploded outside the New Zealand cricket team's Karachi hotel, killing 14 people. The tour was abandoned.

Fifteen years earlier the New Zealand cricket team captained by Jeff Crowe came home after a bomb exploded in Colombo, killing 100.

In November 1993 the New Zealand team, this time captained by Crowe's younger brother Martin, again witnessed the horror of a blast in the Sri Lankan capital. Five players and coach Warren Lees returned home.

Back to the Olympics.

The 1980 Moscow Games were hit by the US-led boycott in protest at the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

Since Munich the Olympics, apart from the blast that killed one and injured more than 100 at an unsecured site at the 1996 Atlanta Games, have, thankfully, remained free of terrorist activity.

But for how long?

Mayor Bakoyannis may be right in shrugging off this week's blasts. We must hope she is. With more than 50,000 security personnel (including 16,000 soldiers) nothing is being left to chance.

Security inside the athletes' village and at the stadiums should not be a concern but, as seen in Atlanta, big crowds in unsecured areas are prime targets for loonies.

Looking further ahead, organisers of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics have already been warned their C$180 million ($207 million) security budget is too low.

One must start to wonder for just how much longer will host cities be able to afford such costs and, sadly, how much longer will major sporting events even be able to continue.

That is something to really consider.