Microsoft outage ‘affecting’ Paris Olympics IT operations

This photograph shows Paris Olympics 2024 banner in front of the National Assembly, in Paris, on July 18, 2024. (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP)

Paris Olympics 2024 organizers said on Friday they were experiencing problems linked with a major worldwide computer systems outage, a week before the Summer Games opening ceremony takes place.

The issues came as a major outage wrought havoc on computer systems worldwide, grounding flights in the United States, derailing television broadcasts in the UK and impacting telecommunications in Australia.

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

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“Paris 2024’s technical teams have been fully mobilized to mitigate the impacts of these issues and we have activated contingency plans in order to continue operations,” they added.

A source at the Paris Olympics Games organizing committee said the problem is affecting the accreditation system with some people unable to pick up badges before next Friday’s ceremony on the River Seine.

The source added it could also affect arrival of athletes who have had flights canceled after the Athletes’ Olympic Village welcomed its first guests on Thursday.

READ: ‘Large-scale’ IT outage hits companies worldwide

The London Stock Exchange (LSE), airports in Spain, the Netherlands and Hong Kong as well as production at US carmaker Tesla’s plant outside Berlin have also been disrupted.

Microsoft said in a statement it was taking “mitigation actions” in response to service issues.

It was not clear if those were linked to the global outages.