US Olympic chiefs 'confident' in Paris security

French sports minister says there is no ‘plan B’ for opening ceremony

LOS ANGELES:

US Olympic chiefs said Thursday they were confident in security arrangements for the 2024 Paris Olympics after a deadly attack in the French capital last weekend.

Officials in the United States and Europe have recently warned of an elevated threat of attacks since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.

The French government this week insisted that plans for the 2024 Olympic opening ceremony -- which will see athletes paraded on the River Seine in a flotilla -- would go ahead, despite media reports indicating concern within the security forces that the ceremony could be vulnerable to an attack.

Asked if US officials had raised concerns about security for the opening ceremony, United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) chief executive Sarah Hirshland said authorities were "extraordinarily conscious" of the current climate.

"As you can imagine, the safety and security of Team USA athletes and frankly our whole delegation is priority number one," Hirshland told reporters on a conference call.

"We are in very close contact with French officials, both the French embassy in the United States as well as the US Embassy in France," she added.

"Our governments are aligned, we have a pretty robust security effort under way and we will continue to have that in place.

"I would tell you that at this point, while everybody is extraordinarily conscious of the environment in which we are all living and operating today, we have confidence that those conversations are satisfactory and that the plans are in place that need to be in place."

French sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said this week that plans for the opening ceremony could still be adapted within the idea of the river flotilla.

"There is no plan B, we have a plan A within which we have several alternatives," the minister told France Inter radio.

She said the "terrorist threat and in particular the Islamist threat exists" but added "it is not new and it is neither specific to France nor specific to the Games."