Winter Olympics in South Korea: the cost of insurance compounded by the war risk

In general, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has underwritten for each game a coverage of a total sum insured of 800 million USD. The insurance premium is, depending on the risks involved, more or less equal to 1% of this amount.

According to the insurers of Pyeongchang's latest games in South Korea, the premium to cover the event range between 2 and 3% of the insured capital, or between 16 to 24 million USD. Guarantees include the risk of war, declaration of war and damage caused by acts of war.

As a reminder, at the Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, despite the risk of a Zika virus outbreak and those of London in 2012, despite the risk of attacks, the IOC only paid a premium of 13 million USD, that is 1.6% of the insured value. In Beijing in 2008, a very secure city, the IOC paid only 4 million USD in premiums, that is 0.5% of the underwritten capital.