The horrific terrorist attack on 13 November 2015 at the Bataclan theatre in Paris, which left 131 people dead, remains deeply embedded in the French collective consciousness. On the same day, two Islamic State suicide bombers detonated their explosives outside the Stade de France during a football match between France and Germany.
French authorities acknowledge that all eyes are on Paris and that, beyond the joy and enthusiasm for the Summer Olympics, there is also concern in the back of minds. The Islamic State struck in Russia a few months ago, while last year authorities in Germany, Belgium, Italy and other countries arrested suspects in connection with terrorist attacks.
France will deploy 45,000 security guards and 40,000 more police and gendarmes to protect the estimated 15 million tourists expected to flock to the City of Lights in the coming weeks.
France constantly in the crosshairs
In the nine years since the Bataclan attack, France has been the main victim of jihadist terrorism in the West. The country has witnessed more than 40 Islamist attacks, including large and sophisticated attacks carried out by highly trained operatives.
At least 26 of those attacks were linked to the Islamic State, according to Foreign Policy. During the same period, there were more than 20 known failed attempts in the country. Perhaps most worrying, analysts say, is the large number of Turkey-based extremists with military experience and a “French connection.”
Also in recent months, policymakers, counter-terrorism and intelligence agencies across the Western world have been sounding the alarm about the heightened terrorist threat, with some even comparing the situation to the build-up of warnings before 9/11.
The targeting of major sporting events follows the logic of terrorism itself. After all, as longtime terrorism expert Brian Michael Jenkins has said, “Terrorism is theater.” Targeting the most prominent sporting event, the Olympics, is an act that terrorists know will automatically attract global attention.
The History of the Olympic Attacks
Sporting events, and especially the Olympics, have been targeted over the years by groups and individuals with varying motivations and ideologies, Foreign Policy notes. The blacklist includes the Black September massacre in Munich in 1972, when Palestinian militants killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team. In 1996, a terrorist named Eric Robert Rudolph, motivated by anti-abortion beliefs and a mix of far-right views, including Christian Identity extremism, planted a bomb at the Atlanta Summer Olympics, killing one person and injuring more than 100 others.
Terrorists and violent extremists have also planned attacks on other sporting events in recent years, including the 2018 Men’s World Cup in Russia, the 2021 European Championship and, most recently, this year’s Cricket World Cup, which was held in part on Long Island in New York. One reason high-profile sporting events are attractive targets is because they are seen as soft targets, something terrorist groups themselves have also highlighted in the past.
Recent terrorist plans blocked by authorities
In the months leading up to Euro 2024, Germany managed to foil a series of planned terrorist attacks linked to Islamic State, and in particular the group’s affiliate in Afghanistan and Pakistan known as Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K). And just a week before the start of the European Championship, a 23-year-old man with German and Moroccan nationality was arrested at Cologne airport, with German police saying he planned to attack the sporting event. The man had previously transferred money to Islamic State and had applied for a job as a security guard outside one of the stadiums before his arrest.
On 18 November 2022, seven people were arrested in Strasbourg for planning an attack. From April to June this year, three attacks were prevented. It is not yet clear whether the target was related to the Olympics, but at least one of the suspects, a 16-year-old boy, said on social media that he wanted to go to the Games.