4. Hybrid risks

on buses, trains and other “pinch points” where people come together in large numbers”9 .

In case of pandemics, better coordination of the decision-making process with the participation of all stakeholders is needed as well as implementing necessary measures, rethinking the need for international travel and organizing mass gathering events and use of a risk-based approach to decide whether to hold, modify, postpone or cancel mass gatherings, etc. The organizers and all stakeholders can use the “WHO Mass Gathering COVID-19 Risk Assessment Tool – Sports Events” see at: https://apps.who.int/iris/ handle/10665/333187.

The organizers should be aware that several factors can be combined, thus multiplying the risks. For example, in pandemic situations, when a decision is made to hold a competition with a limited number of spectators, special care must be taken to tickets, which may lead to a gathering of more people than authorized, and thus compromise the health measures.

Another risk factor could be found in the case of political instability in the particular country hosting a sports event. Public disorder, riots and disobedience are disturbances which may affect negatively the perceptions of the safety of sports events. A study revealed that in cases where there is a risk of political and/or social violence, tourists were less likely to travel to and attend the country where the event is being held10 . or the public can provoke unwanted actions and cause negative consequences.

It is important to analyze the possible risks and identify channels and ways to share valid and reliable information.

The spread of inaccurate or false information could directly affect major sporting events. A recent case showing the impact of hybrid threats to sports security was the spread of disinformation and fake news on the spread of Zika during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Social media posts were spread claiming that Zika is made up or is a plan to depopulate the civilized world, leading to increased concerns over attendance or even discussions on the cancellation of the Olympics in Rio11 .

Fake news has also been surrounding the organization of the Tokyo Olympic games which were initially set for 2020 but were postponed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The International Olympic Committee and Tokyo 2020 organizers warned of the spread of fake news over the cancellation of the sports event.

Hybrid threats might range from amateur social media posts with low impact to well-planned hybrid attacks against the conduct of a sporting event. A risk management strategy taking this threat into account would help organizers put measures in place to avoid such disruptions.

The political instability worldwide, exacerbated by the COVID-19 health crisis, has led to the upholding of the ban on protests at the Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee12. External factors, such as protests against racialized police lethality, authoritarian regimes and human rights abuses in certain countries, create risks to the use of major sporting events as an instrument to depict disobedience and politicize the occasion, causing further polarization and backlash.

4. Hybrid risks

Hybrid risks are relatively new and are mostly associated with the mass penetration of social networks into human life and the ability to receive and send information at any time and from any place.

Hybrid risks still remain insufficiently studied in terms of their possible impact on sporting events. It can be concluded that the risk of sporting events is related to the spread of false news, for example. Generating and sending fake news related to a sporting event, athletes

9 https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/502853/sporting-event-considerations-COVID-19.pdf 10 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338651838_Prospective_tourists’_risk_perceptions_and_intentions_to_travel_to_a_mega-sporting_event_ host_country_with_apparent_risk 11 https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-49576-3_32 12 https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/04/25/ioc-rule-50-olympics/