Gold, Silver and Bronze – Olympic Security

Posted by Pamela S. on Monday, July 30th, 2012

When the ancient Olympic Games were held in Olympia, Greece, thousands of years ago, the Greeks wanted to honor their god, Zeus, celebrate athletic prowess and build strong relationships through friendly competition. Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the modern International Olympic Committee, in 1894, and he had the same hopes. One hopes that by August 12, the closing ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympics, nothing will have occurred to mar the beauty of these games, and we can celebrate his legacy and the victories of our nation and the 204 other nations that have competed.

While athletes are training to become the best that their country has to offer, there are those who plot and plan to use these events to commit crimes, take advantage of participants and observers, and conduct terrorist activities.

The worst example of this was the Summer Games held in Munich, Germany in 1972. A terrorist group called Black September took eleven members of the Israeli Team hostage.

The terrorists killed all eleven athletes and coaches, as well as a West German police officer. Of the eight members of the terrorist group, five were killed by police during a failed rescue operation. Known as the Munich Massacre, this was a very dark stain on the history of the Olympics.

During the Altanta, Georgia Summer Olympics in 1996, a bomb detonated by American domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph killed two and injured 111 other people. Rudolph was on the lam for five years, and was on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was captured in 2003 and pleaded guilty to numerous charges. Rudolph was given four consecutive life sentences in a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty.

After September 11, the organizers of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, worked diligently to ensure the safety of the Games. These games, the first held since the terrorist attacks, were designated a National Special Security Event by the Office of Homeland Security.

Any company that is involved in security knows the pain of obtaining a large contract and scrambling to fulfill the personnel for the contract. I’ve worked for a few investigation/security companies where we needed to hire guards as quickly as possible and I worked overtime finding the bodies.

No one understands that better than G4S, the largest security company in the world. The company couldn’t provide the personnel to fulfill the promise of 10,400 contracted guards and the British government had to get the military to step in.

According to The Telegraph, “The total number of military personnel involved in Olympics security is now more than 18,000, including 11,000 helping secure Games venues, with the rest working in specialist roles.”

This has caused a great deal of controversy and G4S has taken a immense beating to their reputation.

U. S. Transportation Security Administration agents have been working at British airports, helping out with security details.

Our athletes have worked hard to get to the Olympics. They have suffered physical injuries while training, and made many sacrifices to concentrate on their goals and bring glory to our country. Good luck to our American athletes! As I post this, we have won three gold, five silver and four bronze medals. We hope for more, but most importantly, our wish is that Olympic security measures up and everyone comes home safe.

Former FBI Assistant Director Tom Sheer has recruited the best from the FBI, DEA, IRS and Secret Service to build a formidable team at Sheer Investigations. Our private investigators have the sensitivity and experience to handle the most delicate investigations.