EOCGA confident of athletes’ safety

MBABANE – Eswatini Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (EOCGA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Maxwell Jele is satisfied with the Olympic Games’ hosts security measures.

Jele was responding to a questionnaire regarding the July 2024 Summer Olympics set for Paris in France following safety concerns at the host country. Eswatini will be represented at the prestigious event. “We are aware of these threats, but are currently satisfied with the security measures being put in place for the Olympic Games. We participate in regular security updates from the Local Organising Committee (LOC) as France is going all out to ensure adequate safety and security during the games,” he said.

France is ramping up security as this renowned event approaches. The country is currently on high alert after a terrorist attack in Moscow, Russia. Dozens of nations said they would help with the Paris games. Organisers are finalising security planning, while 35 countries have responded positively to their request for reinforcements.

France’s Interior Ministry said over a week ago that 45 countries were asked to provide police officers and civilian personnel to help safeguard the Paris Olympics this summer, as per the DW TV official website. It is worth noting that even without the Olympics; France has often been the target of terrorist attacks in recent years, the biggest was in Paris in 2015 and Nice a year later. Early last December, a German tourist was killed in a suspected Islamist-motivated attack near the Eiffel Tower, in which the assailant injured two victims with a hammer.

Security

However, the French’s request for nearly 2 185 reinforcements to help secure the Olympic Games is standard practice for big sporting events. It was said that before the attack in Moscow, Germany and France agreed to deploy security personnel to bolster security in each other’s countries during the European Championships and the Olympics.

France reportedly sent 200 of its gendarmes to the Football World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and also welcomed 160 officers from other European security forces for the Rugby World Cup that France hosted last year. There country plans to deploy about 45 000 French police and security forces; 20 000 private security personnel and around 15 000 soldiers each day to protect the games and Paralympics, which will take place from late July to August.

Earlier reports suggested that no Eswatini athlete had qualified to compete at the Games. However, the kingdom is guaranteed representation through universality. Universality places are given to athletes from countries that struggle to secure slots in the Olympics through normal qualification channels.

EOCGA will spend E980 000 on Olympic Games set to be hosted in Paris this year as revealed in the budget that was passed during their Annual General Meeting held in December last year .