Paris Olympic IT System Hit By Global Outage; Causes Disruptions To Accreditation and Athletic Arrival.

On Friday, Paris Olympics organizers reported problems linked to a widespread global computer systems outage, just a week before the Games’ opening ceremony. This issue coincided with a major outage that disrupted computer systems worldwide, causing flight cancellations in the United States, disrupting television broadcasts in the UK, and affecting telecommunications in Australia.

“Paris 2024 is aware of global technical issues affecting Microsoft software. These issues are impacting Paris 2024’s IT operations,” organizers stated.

They further added, “Paris 2024’s technical teams have been fully mobilized to mitigate the impacts of these issues, and we have activated contingency plans to ensure continued operations.”

According to a source at the Paris Olympic Games organizing committee, the issue is affecting the accreditation system, preventing some individuals from picking up their badges before next Friday’s ceremony on the River Seine.

The source added that the issue could also impact the arrival of athletes, some of whom have experienced flight cancellations, following the opening of the Olympic Village to its first guests on Thursday. The disruption has been widespread, affecting operations at the London Stock Exchange, airports in Spain, the Netherlands, and Hong Kong, as well as production at Tesla’s plant outside Berlin in the United States.

Microsoft stated that it was taking “mitigation actions” in response to the service issues reported. It remains unclear whether these actions are directly linked to the global outages.