# Terrorism at a tape delayed olympics
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorism-at-a-tape-delayed-olympics/629587
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [July 27, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorism-at-a-tape-delayed-olympics/629587 "2012-07-27T17:15:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorism-at-a-tape-delayed-olympics/629587/21 "2012-07-31T23:45:02Z")
Yes, they can’t possibly show everything tape-delayed on a single channel. I’ve been watching tennis on Bravo all week. But the big events get tape-delayed coverage on NBC, and that’s something that seems really pointless when the result is all over social media and every sports website as soon as it happens. I think NBC should air this stuff live and then show it again in prime time if it showing it at those times is really so important. And actually this might point toward the solution to the OP’s question: the sports coverage that preceeded the attack would be pre-empted, but it might go up on the web with no fanfare once things had calmed down.
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### Author:  [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorism-at-a-tape-delayed-olympics/629587/22 "2012-07-31T23:48:13Z")
I think the answer to the OP is that if there was an act of terrorism at the Olympics, the events would be suspended in an instant. There would be nothing to show, tape-delayed or not.
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### Author:  [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorism-at-a-tape-delayed-olympics/629587/23 "2012-07-31T23:57:10Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> No. I think this is an urban legend that appeared much later (haw haw, stupid media/stupid cops!). The failed assault on the terrorists happened at an airport far from the Olympic village.
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#):
>
> I recently read a book about Munich, the aftermath and the mythology surrounding it and IIRC, they cut the electricity to the dormitories after the Palestinian guerillas took them over so I don’t think the Black September guys would even have been able to watch TV broadcasts of it.
This claim is made in the 1999 Oscar-winning documentary “One Day in September” so I wouldn’t call it an urban legend. (To be clear, the claim was the terrorists were watching the armed West German police advance on their dormitory via the news coverage. Not the later assault at the airport, which obviously wouldn’t even have a TV available.)
Anyway, if Ibn is correct, perhaps new research has shown that there wasn’t electricity in the hijacked dormitory. But it’s not like it’s an outlandish claim. It was being shown on TV, and the terrorists did seem to sense something was up (at least, that’s how it was presented in the documentary).
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### Author:  [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorism-at-a-tape-delayed-olympics/629587/24 "2012-08-01T00:03:14Z")
> [@The\_Great\_Cornholio](#):
>
> In the event of any large scale security incident, mobile phone networks are disabled (leaving thousands of families in utter panic because they can’t get through to their loved ones to see if they are OK).
Are they really? This didn’t happen on 9/11/2001:
> [@wikipedia](#):
>
> After each of the hijacked aircraft struck the World Trade Center, people inside the towers made calls to family and loved ones; for the victims, this was their last communication. Other callers directed their pleas for help to 9-1-1. Over nine hours of the 9-1-1 calls were eventually released after petitioning by The New York Times and families of the WTC victims. In 2001, many cell phones did not yet have texting or photography capabilities that came by the mid-2000s.
> **[Communication during the September 11 attacks | Victims](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication_during_the_September_11_attacks#Victims)**
>
> Cell phones and in-plane credit card phones played a major role during and after the attack, starting with hijacked passengers who called family or notified the authorities about what was happening. Passengers and crew who made calls include: Sandra Bradshaw, Todd Beamer, Tom Burnett, Mark Bingham, Peter Hanson, Jeremy Glick, Barbara Olson, Renee May, Madeline Amy Sweeney, Betty Ong, Robert Fangman, Brian David Sweeney, and Ed Felt. Passengers and crew aboard United Airlines Flight 93 were able t...
Nor during the London bombings of 2005:
> [@wikipedia](#):
>
> Vodafone reported that its mobile telephone network reached capacity at about 10 a.m. on the day of the bombings, and it was forced to initiate emergency procedures to prioritise emergency calls (ACCOLC, the ‘access overload control’). Other mobile phone networks also reported failures. The BBC speculated that the telephone system was shut down by security services to prevent the possibility of mobile phones being used to trigger bombs. Although this option was considered, it became clear later that the intermittent unavailability of both mobile and landline telephone systems was due only to excessive usage.
> **[7 July 2005 London bombings | Transport and telecoms disruption](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings#Transport_and_telecoms_disruption)**
>
> Vodafone reported that its mobile telephone network reached capacity at about 10 a.m. on the day of the bombings, and it was forced to initiate access overload control to prioritise emergency calls. Other mobile phone networks also reported failures. The BBC speculated that the telephone system was shut down by security services to prevent the possibility of mobile phones being used to trigger bombs. Although this option was considered, it became clear later that the intermittent unavailability o...
What is the purpose of cutting off the cell phone networks? I can imagine its usefulness in a hostage or standoff situation, but as a general response to _any_ type of incident it would seem to be counterproductive.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorism-at-a-tape-delayed-olympics/629587/25 "2012-08-01T00:15:59Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#):
>
> I think the answer to the OP is that if there was an act of terrorism at the Olympics, the events would be suspended in an instant. There would be nothing to show, tape-delayed or not.
I think the OP is asking about stuff that was recorded prior to the attack. I could be wrong.
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