The Olympics and terrorism

Was searching for my passport at home last night and came across this old pic of myself and a group of friends in the summer of 1996, at the Olympic Torch Relay in Atlanta. A few weeks later I was less than a hundred yards away from Eric Robert Rudolph's bomb in Centennial Park when it went off, bringing terrorism to the Games for the first time since 1972.

Around that same time in '96, Osama bin Laden was composing his declaration of jihad against America, although it was little noticed at the time. Al-Qaeda has yet to strike the Olympic Games (not for lack of trying, one would imagine), but if when they do, it'll likely make Munich and Atlanta look like child's play. Not a pleasant thought as we approach Turin next month - so much nicer to hearken back to that sunny day of the Torch Relay, when terrorism was the very last thing on anyone's mind...