(ATR) Seb Coe is fully confident that the relevant security services will be doing all they can to ensure a safe IAAF World Championships in London this summer.
The IAAF president was speaking at the London Marriott Hotel West India Quay this week, across the city from where an Islamist terrorist drove into pedestrians and then stabbed a police officer last month.
The security services in many European countries are already on high alert when it comes to guarding sporting events, particularly after an attempted bomb attack on the Borussia Dortmund team bus on Tuesday as they made their way to their UEFA Champions League tie against Monaco in Dortmund.
But Coe, who was in charge of the London 2012 Games which famously included surface-to-air missiles on city rooftops, said he spoke from experience when it came to trusting that the championships would be as secure as possible.
"The best type of security is the security you never discuss," he said. "It is incremental and sequential and delivered in the light of all sorts of prevailing intelligence.
"This is a city that does that probably better than pretty much anywhere in the world and we have a record of doing it extraordinarily well. So I am absolutely sure that the intelligence agencies, the Metropolitan Police and the plethora of other agencies will be looking at that all the time."
Around the Rings reported last month how organizers were reviewing their plans for the competition in August, in light of the Westminster attack.
This week it was confirmed that the death toll from that attack had climbed to five after a Romanian woman, who fell into the River Thames after being hit, died from her injuries.
There were no fatalities from the Dortmund incident, although shrapnel from the bomb blasts did cause injuries to the hand of defender Marc Bartra.
Monaco and Dortmund played their rescheduled match on Wednesday evening, 24 hours after the attack – a UEFA decision that has been heavily criticized.
Europe’s governing body insist they had the agreement of all parties to play the match that evening.
Written and reported by Christian Radnedgein London.
Follow him on Twitter @ChristianRad
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