UMd. Study: No Olympic Terrorism Surge

Though past terrorist incidents loom large in Olympic memory, a new University of Maryland analysis says there's no clear evidence that the risk of attacks increases when the games come to town.

The report, conducted by researchers at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, suggests that the attractiveness of the games as a target may be offset by heightened security measures.

"The analysis indicates that there is no consistent increase or decrease in the frequency of terrorist attacks during the Olympics," the report reads.

Using the Global Terrorism Database, researchers compared the number of terrorist attacks and casualties in the host country during each Olympics with the number of attacks during the same period a year earlier.

Their analysis showed five cities with no terrorist attacks in either stretch, nine with an increase in attacks, and six with a decrease in attacks. Overall, the host locations have been "quite safe with respect to terrorism," researchers noted.

The report also details major incidents of terrorism at three different Olympics: the 1972 Munich games, the 1996 Atlanta games, and the 2008 Beijing games. Collectively, the attacks led to the deaths of 16 victims and six perpetrators and injured more than 100.

Read the full report here.