Global IT crash hits Paris Olympics operation
By AFP
July 19, 2024 05:33 PM
Paris Olympics organizers said on Friday they were experiencing problems linked to a major worldwide computer systems outage, a week before the Games opening ceremony takes place.
The issues came as a major outage wrought havoc on computer systems worldwide, grounding flights in the United States, derailing television broadcasts in the UK, and impacting telecommunications in Australia.
"Paris 2024 is aware of global technical issues affecting Microsoft software. These issues are impacting Paris 2024's IT operations," organisers said.
"Paris 2024's technical teams have been fully mobilized to mitigate the impacts of these issues and we have activated contingency plans in order to continue operations," they added.
The Paris Olympic Games organising committee said the problem is affecting the accreditation system with some people unable to pick up badges before next Friday's opening ceremony on the River Seine.
The committee said the outage was not affecting ticket sales and that the Olympic torch relay would continue as planned.
"This does not call into question the security of access to critical and essential information," Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris 2024 organising committee, told reporters.
"On the other hand, for operations on the ground, to welcome new athletes, to welcome all the delegations to issue accreditations, it slows down our operations. We are currently adapting."
The London Stock Exchange (LSE), airports in Spain, the Netherlands and Hong Kong as well as production at US carmaker Tesla's plant outside Berlin have also been disrupted.
Microsoft said in a statement it was taking "mitigation actions" in response to service issues.
It was not clear if those were linked to the global outages.