International Olympic Committee chief: Paris attacks have no bearing on 2024 bid

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Friday’s attacks.

Security will be among the issues discussed when IOC officials travel to Rio in the coming days for their latest “project review” of Olympic preparations, Bach added. The games, the first in South America, start on August 5.

President Bach welcomed the Russian desire to protect “clean” athletes and the readiness of the ROC to take a leading role in the reform process.

Security has been the top priority for the worldwide Olympic Committee ever since the 1972 Munich Games, where 11 Israeli athletes and coaches died after Palestinian gunmen raided the Olympic village.

The attacks in Paris came at a time when the French capital is bidding to host the 2024 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee will select the host city in September 2017.

Famous tourist spots like the Christ Redeemer statue and the Maracana soccer stadium, which will also be a site for matches in the Olympic Games, have always received special attention from intelligence agencies in other events, such as the UN Sustainable Development Summit, in 2012, and the Federation Internationale de Football Association World Cup, last year.

Russian athletes should take part in worldwide competitions under the country’s flag, Alexander Zhukov, the head of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), said on Wednesday.

The second reason, said the IOC chief, is that “it’s not just Paris and France which are affected but the entire worldwide community”. It’s an global challenge.

“It does not only concern sports but all the big events and the whole society”.

A statement from the city’s organising committee said: “We share the shock and profound sadness which has been expressed by so many people around the world and as Parisians we stand in solidarity with the people of Paris and of France in uniting against these acts of terror”.

Three confirmed fatalities occurred outside the Stade de France, where France defeated Germany 2-0 in an worldwide friendly.