The Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah will go ahead as scheduled next February, the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, said yesterday. Rogge was speaking after security concerns were raised in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States.
"The Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City will take place as scheduled. That's certain," Rogge said from the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
"I spoke by telephone to Mitt Romney (head of SLOC, the Salt Lake City organising committee) Tuesday evening and it is clear that we want to hold these games and we will hold these games," he added.
The global stage offered by the Olympics and the sheer scale of the Games make them an inviting terrorist target. Anti-terror preparations have been a key part of Games planning since 1972, when Arab commandos slipped into the Olympic Village in Munich and killed two Israeli team members and seized nine others as hostages. Eventually all nine were killed in a shoot-out between the terrorists and West German police.
Rogge said the IOC have hired those in charge of security for the 1992 Barcelona and 2000 Syndey Games to pass on their knowledge to Salt Lake City authorities.
Rogge took over as IOC chief from Juan Antonio Samaranch on July 16th and Salt Lake City will be his first Olympics in charge. On Tuesday he sent a letter of sympathy to the American people.
The Winter Olympics are to be held from February 8th-24th with thousands of athletes, journalists and spectators gathering from around the world for the quadrennial event.
