Attacks and threats affected sporting events in history

Other major events

April 21, 1987 

A car bomb kills more than 100 people at a bus station in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The blast came during a tour of the country by the New Zealand cricket team. The three-Test tour was cut to one.

Feb 11, 1996 

Cricket teams from Australia and the West Indies refuse to play preliminary World Cup matches in Sri Lanka a week after a huge bomb blast in Colombo killed 80 people and injures 1,200.

April 5, 1997

The Grand National, the most famous horse race in England, was abandoned after two coded bomb threats were reportedly received from the IRA. Sixty-thousand spectators (including Princess Anne), jockeys, race personnel and local residents were evacuated, and the course was secured by police. The race was run two days later.

May 1, 2002 

Hours before the Champions League semifinal between Real Madrid and Barcelona, a car bomb was detonated near Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. Seventeen people were injured. UEFA made security checks before going ahead with the match.

May 8, 2002 

A suicide bomber killed 14 people outside the hotel where the New Zealand cricket team was staying in Karachi, Pakistan. Fourteen people died in the attack and the New Zealand team returned home.

2006 

Iraqi sportsmen and women were targeted three times. On May 17, 15 athletes and officials of the Iraqi taekwondo team were kidnapped as they headed to Jordan for a training camp. None of the athletes were seen alive again. On May 26, gunmen shot killed the Iraqi tennis coach and two of his players. The final attack on July 16 involved 50 gunmen who attacked a sports conference in Baghdad. They kidnapped 30 athletes and officials, including the head of Iraq's Olympic Committee, Ahmed al-Hadjiya.

April 9, 2008 

A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber detonated a device at the start of a marathon celebrating the start of Sri Lanka's new year. Highways minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, former Olympic marathon runner KA Karunaratne and the national athletics coach, Lakshman de Alwis, were among the dozen people killed.

Jan 4, 2008 

The Dakar Rally was canceled for the first time in its 30-year history. The threat of an attack from al-Qaida made the race too risky for the organizers.

 

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