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Athens Olympics: Swifter, higher, stronger — and riskier

PARIS: Visitors, volunteers, athletes: millions of people will flock to Athens for the August Olympics. Games organisers ATHOC struggled for months to finalise an insurance budget of 15.5 million euros ($19 million) to cover the risk that comes with them.

Four months from the opening ceremony on August 13, organisers are putting the finishing touches on a plan that covers 15,000 athletes, 20,000 officials, 1.5 million spectators and 4 million Athenians involved in the games.

The most important contracts cover damages that organisers might cause to third parties. Coverage of organisers’ assets such as installations and rented facilities also constitute a considerable chunk of insurance.

But the games’ mostly brand-new venues, construction of which was entirely financed by Greek taxpayers, are not covered by the package, an ATHOC spokesman told AFP.

The budget of ATHOC’s risk management department totals 15.5 million euros. Of that, 10.5 million euros have already been paid for insurance premiums. The funds also paid for insurance service providers and for an electronic communications system to manage accidents.

The Greeks handled the EU-wide insurance tender themselves, assisted by two insurance brokers, the French group Gras Savoye and the US firm Marsh.

Gras Savoye devised particular programmes such as risk identification in the construction and dismantlement of infrastructures, evaluation of the assets to be insured and the drawing up of policies in view of the offers.

It is now supervising implementation of the running contracts.

“That includes insurance amendments if risks change, regular information to reinsurers and legal monitoring,” explained Richard Terzan, director of sports, events and special risks with Gras Savoye.

The French firm was paid 600,000 euros for the job, plus “a few peripheral, additional bonuses,” according to the broker.

New York-based Marsh handled contingency planning, a technical term for evaluating risk factors. The company earned 1.1 million euros for its services.

“It’s about analysing all functions of the organising committee, making interviews with every official and drawing up a list of risks that might materialise before and during the games,” said Patrick Vajda, head of the firm’s worldwide events division.

Marsh’s brief currently covers between 750 and 800 potential risk sources. Around 200 of them “must be absolutely handled, such as fire detection in kitchens, installation of reinforced doors, respect of the cold chain,” Vajda said. “Insurance is about providing solutions after disasters. Our role is to prevent accidents,” he added.

The tender to insure ATHOC assets is still underway, though some contracts have already been farmed out to the insurance arms of major Greek banks.

Alpha covers ATHOC personnel against accidents, Agrotiki won the bid for civil responsibility and Ethniki is handling ATHOC’s vehicle insurance.

In time-honoured fashion, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose not to cover against the risk of the games being cancelled. But the IOC is studying possible global coverage for the games duration, a spokesman said. —AFP

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