Traditionally, the Winter Olympics has been an event in which athletes compete tirelessly, fans watch intently, and multiple nations are brought together. It is an overwhelmingly exciting competition, but there is one thing the Olympics world is concerned about this year – safety.

It is difficult to decide whether or not athletes and spectators will be safe at the Sochi Games, but through further investigation, I found that attendees should proceed with their plans to attend the Olympics.

Opponents of this idea argue that Sochi and the Russian government cannot ignore the harsh terrorism threats being thrown upon their important event.  Russia’s lead terrorist, Doku Umarov, has made broad threats on Russia in the past, but now his threats are specifically targeted towards the Winter Olympics.  He explained these warnings to be reprisal threats against Russia for the destruction of Muslims during the Russian Conquest of the Caucasus in the 19^th century.

Umarov’s threats should not be taken lightly because he admitted responsibility for two suicide bombings on the Moscow subway that took the lives of 34 people in 2010. Hearing that 34 people died in this attack in addition to the terrorism threats, athletes from around the world reevaluated their decisions of partaking in this year’s competition.

However, despite the uproar and refusal to attend the Olympic games by some, athletes and spectators are said to have nothing to fear; the Russian and United States governments are imposing certain additions to improve the overall safety of the Winter Olympics.

Firstly, Russia, and other governments with Olympic teams, have been busily preparing the addition of transportation security.  To prevent any potential terrorists from accessing Sochi by the Black Sea and to provide a quick way out in case of an emergency, the United States has two Marine ships ready to protect Sochi and the United States athletes. In addition to the ships, to thwart any danger from coming in through flight, Russian airport security has been drastically increased.  Though the added security will be time consuming for the people attending the Olympics, it is a small price to pay for lives being saved. The other two main ways into Sochi are by highway and by train.  Like the increased airport security, train security will be very tight leading up to and during the games.  It is not very common to have tight train security in Russia but, in a case like this, it is essential in order to keep the athletes and spectators protected from potential danger.  Highways have been under tight watch too and there is additional protection against cars.

Russia is requiring all cars entering Sochi to be registered with the government three days beforehand.  Registering cars with the government will require the driver and anybody else who will be traveling in that car to give the government extensive personal information.  Residents of Sochi will have their cars registered in advance.  With cars being monitored, transportation security being tightened, and two Marine ships waiting in the Black Sea, it will be extremely difficult to let any terrorists into Sochi.

Although it is an almost impossible task to enter Sochi in the first place, if a terrorist were to get in, harming the people there and the facilities would be another nearly unfeasible task.  Part of the reason is that there will be over 50,000 police officers and undercover police officers guarding Sochi at all times, twice as many as there were at the 2012 London Olympics.  Considering that there are 80,000 people attending and 50,000 police officers and guards, more than half of the people at the Olympics will be there for security purposes.

Some of these 50,000 security people will be monitoring the tens of thousands of security cameras in every public space throughout the town.  These cameras will be watched around the clock in a security center before, during, and after the Olympics to ensure safety in each public area of the town.  According to the New York Times, the head of the security center Sergei V. Cherepov stated that “[e]verything is being done for everyone in the city to feel at home and safe.”  These security additions provided many with reassurance that they will be safe before going into the Olympics.

Another precaution Sochi is taking is identity checks for each person spectating the events.  Each person who has gone through extensive background checks will receive a pass that allows them into the Olympic facilities. An official can scan this pass at any time, so they can see full backgrounds of all spectators and athletes.

Though there are risks at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Russia has gone to comprehensive measures to verify that everybody will be safe.  Most importantly, they are taking these actions to make sure that every person at the Olympics can enjoy him or herself and not have to worry about any acts of terrorism. However, it would be a tremendous understatement to say that Sochi will be one of the safest places during the next few weeks.