CHINA: OLYMPICS BEIJING 2008 - Georgian and Russian athletes to stay at Games despite conflict

Record ID: 335044

  • Title: CHINA: OLYMPICS BEIJING 2008 - Georgian and Russian athletes to stay at Games despite conflict
  • Date: 11th August 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC) SPOKESPERSON GISELLE DAVIES SAYING: "At all levels, the athletes, the officials and of course the leadership of the National Olympic Committee, supported by their government, they will continue their participation in the Olympic Games here in Beijing. This continuation of their participation confirmed today very m
  • Embargoed: 26th August 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: International Relations,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA6GBZEOSATRHM1CKEKP9TZMPCH
  • Story Text: International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirms that the Georgian and Russian Olympic teams have decided to stay on at the Beijing Games despite the conflicy on Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.
    Olympic organisers also say Xinjiang blasts will not have an impact on the Games and that security will be tightened following an attack that killed a U.S. visitor.
    The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Sunday (August 10) welcomed a decision by Georgian and Russian athletes to stay on in Beijing despite the conflict which has engulfed Georgia.
    IOC spokesperson Giselle Davies told a daily news conference the Olympic committee was "delighted" about the decision of both countries to stay in Beijing, calling it "the right decision".
    "At all levels, the athletes, the officials and of course the leadership of the National Olympic Committee, supported by their government, they will continue their participation in the Olympic Games here in Beijing.
    This continuation of their participation confirmed today very much reflects the Olympic spirit and the values of the Games. The IOC believes this is absolutely the right decision, most of all for the athletes who have trained so hard and for whom this is a once in a life-time possibly opportunity,"
    she said.
    She added that the National Olympic Committees of both countries had made it clear that their team members would compete in the spirit of "respect of athlete for athlete", even when competing against each other.
    "Both national committees have made it clear that they are here to compete and will compete. If they are drawn against each other, they are drawn against each other. They are here in a sporting context, they've confirmed their participation very much in the light of respect, friendship, athlete to athlete, so we have no reason to have any concerns on that today," she said.
    As if to emphasise the point, a Georgian competitor embraced her Russian rival after they both won medals, hoping to show that an escalating conflict between their two nations will not spoil the sporting spirit at the games.
    Georgia's Nino Salukvadze, who took bronze in the 10 metres airpistol, hugged Russia's Natalia Paderina, who won the silver, on the podium after receiving their medals.
    Trouble in China's own back yard marred the second day of competition with pre-dawn blasts and a shootout in Xinjiang, some 3,000 km (1,860 miles) west of Beijing resulting in the deaths of five attackers, shot dead by police.
    State media said "lawbreakers" tossed homemade explosives into local government buildings. In addition to the five dead, two officers and a security guard were injured in the attack.
    Suspected Muslim militants killed 16 police in the same region a week ago but it was not known who was behind Sunday's attack.
    The Vice President of the Beijing Games organising committee Wang Wei said he believed the incident would have no impact on the Games and added that the blasts were the work of separatist forces using the Olympics to highlight their cause.
    "The East Turkestan force since it started hasn't stopped its activities in Xinjiang. The purpose of their activities is to separate the territory from China. No country would tolerate this kind of activity. Of course they want to use the platform of the Olympics to amplify the effects. I think their very purpose is a purpose of separation," he said.
    Olympic organisers, however, vowed to tighten security around open venues after a U.S. tourist died in a stabbing attack.
    American Todd Bachman died in Saturday's (August 9) attack by an unemployed Chinese man who then killed himself.
    Bachman's wife, Barbara, was in a critical but stable condition on Sunday after undergoing eight hours of surgery. She suffered multiple lacerations and stab wounds in the attack. A Chinese tour guide, who was also injured in the attack, is out of danger.
    Insisting that the Chinese capital was safe, Beijing Olympic spokesman Wang Wei said there was no reason to believe the attack was targeted on Americans.
    "This was an isolated criminal act. We were actually surprised, Beijing has been a safe city for a long time. So we have reason to believe that around the Olympic Games the security measures are sufficient and also we are planning to increase security on the scenic spots, other areas, of course at the same time we are not going to damage the access for the ordinary people. There is also no reason to believe as I said before that the violent act was targeted on any specific nation," he said.
    Assaults on foreigners in Beijing are rare. Police say they still do not know the killer's motive.
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