The French are protecting the Games with fearsome firepower. Australia had two pranksters

John Silvester lifts the lid on Australia’s criminal underworld in Naked City, an exclusive newsletter for subscribers sent every Thursday. You’re reading an excerpt – sign up to get the whole newsletter in your inbox.

In Paris for the Olympic Games, security will be the tightest ever. There will be snipers on roofs overlooking the River Seine and machine-gun-carrying cops patrolling the streets. Already the armed cops have their hands full trying to control local gangs looking to rob visitors who are in town for the games.

And it is not for show. The French are at the top of the tree when it comes to counterterrorism.

Thousands of French soldiers are part of the security operation for the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)Credit: nna\riwood

A few years ago we met Eric Gigou, then the deputy head of the elite French RAID anti-terrorism unit, who led the attack against some of the Paris terrorists who killed 130 people in 2015.

When his team entered the Bataclan theatre they had a giant shield on wheels and so the terrorists used hostages as human speed bumps. Gigou’s team popped over the top and shot one gunman without hesitation. The other two blew themselves up with suicide vests.

In Melbourne in 1956 security was a little more relaxed. It was run by a young army officer with a gift of the gab, Frank Douglas, and David Chivers, a young Templestowe orchardist doing his stint of National Service.

Douglas was sharing an after-dinner port with the chairman of the Melbourne Olympic Organising Committee, Sir Wilfred Selwyn Kent Hughes, who said everything was behind schedule and the Olympic Village was being stripped of their ovens before they were completed.

Douglas, who was 23, said he could take control of security and enlisted his mate, Chivers, 21, as his sidekick. It was a month before the games kicked off.

Many years ago Chivers told us they set up headquarters at the Olympic swimming centre, recruited a few dozen others to help, and began 24-hour patrols three weeks before the opening ceremony.

Even the training sessions were popular and at some venues there was a small charge to attend. Some say Douglas used some of the money charged at the Olympic Park velodrome to pay for an end of games security party.

Australian gymnast Emily Whitehead poses for a photographer as armed security personnel walk by in Paris.Credit: Getty

One day, the stand was full waiting for the French team to train. Trouble was the French team were in Geelong practising for the road race. When Chivers arrived at the velodrome, he was surprised to see Douglas not in his customary suit but fully decked out in cycling gear.

“Quick,” said Douglas, “get a bike, we’d better put on a show”.

“I then tucked my pants into my socks and was ready,” Chivers said.

After completing a few laps on the wall they put on fake French accents and signed autographs for the fans.

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, pictured arriving at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (main stadium) during the Melbourne Olympic Games on 28 November 1956.Credit: Frank Burke/SMH News

When authorities received intelligence that the Duke of Edinburgh was under threat, Chivers slept the night in the room where Prince Philip was scheduled to appear the following day. And to make doubly sure, he wedged a chair under the doorknob to keep any assassins out.

Turned out to be more effective than the Secret Service’s attempts to protect Donald Trump.