Further resources and reading

• Cybersecurity stepped up for Paris 2024 Olympics, opens in a new tab, Philip Barker, Inside the Games, (14 December 2022). The team responsible for cybersecurity at the Paris 2024 Olympics have launched a series of exercises aimed at preventing a repetition of attacks at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics through a programme of cyber malware dubbed "Olympic Destroyer."
• French Government restricts major festivals during Paris 2024 for security reasons, opens in a new tab, Patrick Burke, Inside the Games, (14 December 2022). Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak and Sports and Olympic and Paralympic Games Minister Amélie Oudea-Castera have devised a four-stage plan for the staging of cultural events which would clash with Paris 2024. This includes a ban on major cultural, festive and sporting events requiring the deployment of mobile force units (UFMs) from the opening of the Olympic Village on July 18 until the end of the Olympics on August 11.
• Security preparations underway for Paris 2024, opens in a new tab, Christine Brown, Around the Rings, (26 October 2022). 35,000 guards will be deployed to help with the opening ceremony with a crowd of 600,000 expected both on the banks of the Seine and from street level up above.
• The Tokyo Olympics are a cybersecurity success story, opens in a new tab, Dr. Brian Gant, Security Magazine, (17 August 2021). Over the course of these games, it’s become increasingly clear that the organizers did indeed exercise preventative measures and that despite the challenges and limitations of holding an Olympics during a pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics have been a real success story from a cybersecurity perspective. Organizers of all large-scale, televised sporting events—and indeed just all organizations in general—should look to this year’s games as a model to emulate.
• Assessing The Potential Impact of Cybersecurity for Olympic Games in Tokyo, opens in a new tab, Zerofox, (19 July 2021). As a global event, there are always potential concerns of cyber attacks such as ransomware, and any conversation around security for Olympic Games should include an element of cybersecurity. Although Tokyo 2020 faces unique challenges, and its organizers’ creativity and resiliency are being put to the test, no credible physical or cybersecurity-related threats associated with the upcoming Olympic events have yet to be identified. Within this piece, we’ll review what the ZeroFox threat research team has observed in the weeks leading up to the games, as well as the types of security incidents that could occur.

• Stepping up to the plate: Planning for a lasting health legacy from major sporting events, opens in a new tab, Thompson D, McAteer S, Davies N, et al., World Innovation Summit for Health, (2020). Mass gatherings present a range of challenges for the host country, particularly in the healthcare sector, as highlighted by the widespread cancellation or postponement of many sporting competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Assembling large numbers of people in a concentrated area can lead to increased transmission of infectious diseases, the risk of mass injury, and ensuing pressure on existing health systems and services. Local environmental conditions often produce additional challenges for participants and visitors. It is therefore imperative to adopt a comprehensive and co-ordinated approach across public health, primary care, tertiary care, and emergency services to minimize and mitigate the health risks associated with the delivery of these events.

• Existential threats to the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games? a review of emerging environmental health risks, opens in a new tab, Michael Annear, Tetsuhiro Kidokoro, Yasuo Shimizu, Reviews on Environmental Health, Volume 36(2), (January 2021). This review highlights two intersecting environmental phenomena that have significantly impacted the Tokyo Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games: infectious disease outbreaks and anthropogenic climate change. Following systematic searches of five databases and the gray literature, 15 studies were identified that addressed infectious disease and climate-related health risks associated with the Summer Games and similar sports mega-events. Over two decades, infectious disease surveillance at the Summer Games has identified low-level threats from vaccine-preventable illnesses and respiratory conditions. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and expansion of vector-borne diseases represent emerging and existential challenges for cities that host mass gathering sports competitions due to the absence of effective vaccines. Without systematic change to its format or staging location, the Summer Games have the potential to drive deleterious health outcomes for athletes, spectators and host communities.
• Special Issue: Terrorism and Sport: A Global Perspective, opens in a new tab. American Behavioral Scientist, Volume 60(9), (August 2016). The articles in this volume offer insights on the intersection of terrorism and sports, by presenting a wide, diverse picture of this phenomenon. The six articles explore this topic from a variety of perspectives, including security, sociology, media and public relations, and the political, ideological, and psychological aspects of sport and terror.
• Terrorism and Security at the Olympics: Empirical Trends and Evolving Research Agendas, opens in a new tab. Spaaij R, The International Journal of the History of Sport, Volume 33(4), pp.451-468, (2016). This paper provides an empirical analysis of Olympic-related terrorism in the period 1968–2014 and suggests the need to bring state terrorism into the analysis of terrorism at the Olympics. Additionally, draws attention to both intended and unanticipated security legacies of the Olympics, including the wider social implications of Olympic security operations.
• Surveillance and securitization: A forgotten Sydney Olympic legacy, opens in a new tab, Toohey, K., Taylor, T., International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Volume 47(3), pp.324-337, (2012). Uses the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the last Olympic Games held before 9/11, as a case study to examine how Olympic security measures were implemented before and during the Games and how some of these have remained as an Olympic legacy in the post-9/11 era.

Australian Federal Legislation

• Criminal Code Act 1995, opens in a new tab
• Security Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Act 2002, opens in a new tab
• Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Rules 2014, opens in a new tab
• Olympic Insignia Protection Regulations 1993, opens in a new tab

Frameworks and Guidelines

• Australian National Security website, opens in a new tab. The Australian government's portal on national security. Includes agencies, legislation, list of terrorist groups, assessments and travel warnings. Provides information and guidance on protecting your business through security for crowded places, critical infrastructure, chemical security, and, trucks and vehicles.

• ISO/DIS 22379 - Security and resilience — Guidelines for hosting and organizing citywide or regional events, opens in a new tab, ISO, (September 2022). This document provides principles applicable to any host and organizer of citywide or regional events to help hosts and organizers to plan and execute a safe, secure and sustainable event by: introducing a process for cooperation between the host and organizer; identifying and involving relevant interested parties; identifying the economic, environmental and societal impact caused by the event; establishing necessary measures to manage risks introduced by or affecting the event; establishing necessary measures to deliver the event; providing critical services to the public and to the event; providing interested parties and the public with information; providing future hosts and organizers of similar events with lessons identified; introducing an event legacy plan consistent with the long-term objectives for the city or region. This document is general and strategic and does not include detailed descriptions or how to plan and execute specific tasks.