IOC shares knowledge with local students on Olympic Day

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On Olympic Day, on 23 June, IOC Chief Security Officer Aldric Ludescher gave a presentation on “Managing security in complex systems – the example of the Olympic Games” to 90 students at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo. The university, located in the heart of the city, will kindly provide the campus for the Games Experience Programme (GEP) during the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer. The session was facilitated by the IOC’s IKL team to give back to and thank the university and its students for their hospitality. Some of the students will also support the GEP as volunteers.

At the IOC, Aldric looks aftercorporate security and also security aspects related to the Olympic Games. Whilst the host nation (i.e. its authorities) is fully responsible for security at the Games, Aldric explained to the students that his role is more of an advisory one in this context: “National authorities have vast and important experience in how to manage security in their country. However, security at the Olympic Games is quite complex and, for instance, securing Alpine venues or road races comes with very specific requirements. That’s where the IOC can support with valuable experience from previous Games.” He pointed out: “We always have a most genuine partnership with the national authorities responsible for security matters, as both sides benefit from each other’s know-how. Often, we deal with eight to ten different government agencies, all of them contributing to different aspects of Games security.”

This complexity was another focus of Aldric’s presentation to the students in Tokyo last month. He defined a complex system, with the Olympic Games as a showcase, and explained the importance of taking an interdisciplinary approach when managing security within such a system. Security has many cross-sections with fields like psychology, politics, law and communication, to name just a few. He also advised looking at best practice from other complex systems, such as biological or railroad systems. Research in this area is not extensive, yet, and that’s exactly why Aldric, who also teaches at a university in his home town Vienna, wanted to raise the students’ interest in this topic. An inspiring and successful example of knowledge-sharing in the local context of Tokyo 2020!

© Trofym Anderson, Games Learning Manager at the IOC’s IKL team and IOC Chief Security Officer Aldric Ludescher (both in the middle) with Tokyo 2020 IKM GEP team members Shinji KOBAYASHI, Director Choji NAKAMURA, Reiko CIRILLI and Akashi AMANO (from left to right).