Missiles deployed near the Athens Olympic Village during the Olympic Games

　　Military involvement in Olympic security is one of the international practices

　　"Our forces assigned to ensure the security of the Olympic Games have been deployed to the designated places. We are capable of fulfilling various security missions." Tian Yixiang, head of the military work department of the Beijing Olympic Security Coordination Group, reiterated recently that armed forces' involvement in the security of the Olympic Games is a common international practice.

　　Historical data suggest that from the first modern Olympic Games on, the armed forces have been involved in the security work of almost every Olympic Games.

　　In the wee hours on the morning of September 5, 1972, eight members of the "Black September" organization of Palestine intruded into the residential area of the Israeli team in the Olympic Village of Munich, killed a coach and an athlete and kidnapped nine other Israeli athletes and two officials as hostages. Owing to the failure to meet their political aim, they murdered all the hostages in the end. Some of those terrorists were gunned down by the German police. Due to that event, the Olympic Games was suspended for one day, and the Israeli team returned back before the end of the Games.

　　The "Munich Tragedy" helped to highlight the security issue of the Olympic Games. It was exactly since then, the armed forces are getting more and more involved in the security work of the Olympic Games.

　　The "explosion in the Olympic Park" in the U.S. city of Atlanta in 1996 helped to raise the threshold of the Olympic security, resulting in an all-round involvement of the armed forces. In the wake of the "9.11" Event, the threshold of the Olympic security has been further lifted to the highest level.

　　The Athens Olympic Games held in the aftermath of the "9.11" Event made the security work even more arduous. As a result, first-degree combat readiness was called in the armed forces and 53,363 troops were fielded to ensure the security of the Olympic Games. The Greek Government even asked NATO to lend a hand in ensuring the security. During the games, a missile protection network, composed of Patriotic, Stinger and Hercules missiles, was put in place to cover the air space over Athens and four other host cities. Fighters like Mirage 2000 and F-16 were also ordered to stand by.

　　Looking back to the latest Olympic Games, we can say for sure that all host countries will go all out to ensure the security work. The outlay budgeted and spent by the Greek Government in the security work dwarfed any of the previous ones and hit a record of ?1.2 billion.

　　By Fan Jianghuai and Hong Wenjun

　　(Aug 4, PLA Daily)                          Editor: Dong Zhaohui