LONDON, Jan 25: A leading Olympic security expert believes it is “just a matter of time” before terrorists target a major sports event. Peter Ryan, who was in charge of security at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, said the threat was not just to stadiums but also to public areas and electricity stations.

“We have, in my view, been extremely lucky that the first division, as I call the top level of terrorist groups, have not targeted a large, major event for many years,” Ryan said Thursday at a sports security conference. “It's probably just a matter of time.”

A former London chief of police, Ryan was also the principle security adviser for the 2004 Athens Olympics. He is a security consultant for the International Olympic Committee on the 2008 Beijing Games.

Ryan said open-air venues where fans watch events on big screens were “extremely vulnerable” to attack. Critical infrastructure — such as electricity and water supplies — could also be a target.

“If they go wrong or break down or get attacked, it really will have an incredible effect on the major event,” Ryan said.

Ryan said terrorist groups were growing increasingly sophisticated, and the methods of attack would change.

“It's very fortunate that some of them can't put two wires together in the same place properly because the foot soldiers aren't the ones who are necessarily the designers of these weapons or bombs or whatever,” Ryan said. —AP