User:Tesoldj13

Terrorism and Sport
There is no universal definition for the term terrorism, but there are several constant behaviors linked to terrorist acts. Scholars claim that terrorism does not contain the elements of sudden emotional rage, but it is rather carefully designed to target political policies in order to change the status quo  political order. Also, terrorists declare the rationale for promoting a greater good which frequently relates to its ideological or religious justification, and often select methods of mass destruction  to target populous sites with high media exposure. In consequence, as international sport has increased its leverage for the last 150 years, it became inevitable for major sport events to avoid terrorist attacks. Events such as the Olympic Games  and  World Cup Football  became prime targets because of their high populace, global media exposure, and symbolic representation. There are several logistical factors why major sport events are highly profiled to be targeted; 1) large populace make it difficult to identify terrorists physically; 2) the transportation hubs enable rapid escape path; 3) alcohol consumption by the audience raises problems upon security issues even before the terrorism concerns.

Major Incidents
Although terror have existed throughout history, it was the 1972 Munich Olympics that created the new approach to Olympic security planning. Referred as the Munich Massacre, 11 Israeli members of the Israeli national team were kidnapped by the 8 Palestinian terrorists militant group called the Black September. Two members were killed during the process of kidnapping while nine were taken as hostages. All of them were killed during an unsuccessful rescue attempt. Thereafter, a tightened security framework was developed during the 1976 Montreal Olympics  which provided the basic structure for future Olympic security operations. Further incidents may be referred to the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games where Basque separatist group Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) and a Marxist group Grupo de Resistencia Antifascista Primo October (GRAPO) bombed utilities in order to obstruct the event but failed to disrupt it and obtain global media notice. In the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, one person was killed and over 100 people were injured due to the bomb explosion during a concert at the  Centennial Park. The September 11 attack  once again heightened the concern about potential terrorist attacks on major sport events although no specific connection was found between the two of them. After this incident, nation governments and major sport event organizers raised the level of security. However, a great number of major sport events were cancelled or postponed at this period as well as many athletes and national teams withdrew from the events. During the 2002 Winter Games, $US70 million was spent on Games security. Although the 2004 Athens Olympic Games  were held without any major security incidents, the potential threat of terrorism led to the low participation number.