January 4, 2008

Dakar Rally cancelled : by the Amaury Sport Organisation due to security concerns after four French tourists were killed in Mauritania. Have other sporting events of this magnitude been cancelled before due to terrorist threats or other such security concerns?

read story | posted by smithers to Auto Racing at 11:32 AM CDT (6 comments total)

(FIFA) Women's World Cup 2003 was out of China due to SARS-related scare.

Comment icon posted by billsaysthis at 3:21 PM CDT on January 4

The 2001 Ryder Cup was put back a year because the American team were a big bunch of wusses had concerns about post-9/11 air travel and security.

It's a shame about the Dakar Rally. I'm not a big motorsport fan, but I sometimes caught the highlights on Eurosport in the past and it looks like a spectacular race. I saw the press conference today and they said there had been a specific threat towards the race, so I guess they had no choice but to cancel.

Comment icon posted by afx237vi at 4:01 PM CDT on January 4

In past years there were safety concerns for the drivers/riders and spectators alike, but never enough to actually cancel the whole race. This really sucks as I'm a fan of this rally.
NPR had a pretty lengthy story on this topic this evening, but it's not on their Web site yet. I'll try to find it later on tonight.

Comment icon posted by NoMich at 4:44 PM CDT on January 4

(FIFA) Women's World Cup 2003 was out of China due to SARS-related scare.

and while not as big as either Dakar or the WWC, the 2003 IIHF Women's World Hockey Championship that was to be held in Beijing was cancelled completely, also due to SARS.

Comment icon posted by goddam at 5:02 PM CDT on January 4

I am absolutely gutted about this. I have three racing highlights in my year. The Le Mans 24hr race, the Nurburgring 24hr race, and the Dakar. I wouldn't be surprised if the threats against the race story is bogus. (Yes I heard it said at the press conference.) Just an attempt to try and save face. I mean honestly, this isn't a circuit race. It's a trek through the desert. To get into the bivouac you have to have the right credentials. I'd dearly love to know exactly how "terrorists" would attack the rally when on the stages, a bomb, if even such a thing was tried (which I HIGHLY doubt it would) would be utterly pointless. I guarantee competitors are at more risk from the bloody sand dunes than the boogeyman from Al Quaeda (or however the fuck it's being spelt/pronounced this week).

Everyone always said that with terrorism (before it became such a comedy catch all word for bloody everything) that the best way to fight it was too carry on as normal. Don't let them effect daily life. Standing up to terrorism by canceling a globally renowned sporting event? Yeah, that makes sense.

There's been stages cancelled before for security reasons, but the entire event? What a joke.:(

Comment icon posted by Drood at 1:27 AM CDT on January 5

Here's the NPR story.

Comment icon posted by NoMich at 8:32 AM CDT on January 5

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