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Georgian athletes worry about violence in homeland
Russia's Natalia Paderina, left, and Georgia's Nino Salukvadze hug and wave during the medal ceremony after the women's 10 meter air pistol final at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2008. Paderina won the silver medal and Salukvadze won bronze. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)
(Sergey Ponomarev - AP)
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Two members of the Georgian team _ weightlifters Albert Kuzilov and Arsen Kasabiev _ are from South Ossetia, Tchanishvili said.
"When the war is in your country, at such a time it is very difficult for them, for all of us," he added.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili proposed a cease-fire Saturday. Russia did not immediately respond to the proposal.
IOC officials deplored the violence, especially at a time when the world's athletes had gathered for the games. The IOC and the U.N. General Assembly traditionally call for observance of an "Olympic Truce" during the period of the games.
U.S. IOC member Jim Easton called for the violence to stop for the duration of the Olympics.
"We are trying to say, `hey, let's have a truce for at least the Olympic Games, so we bring some peace to the world even for two weeks.' The timing couldn't be worse. War is not great at any time, but to have it on the first day of the Olympic competition was pretty bad timing," he said.
Beach volleyballer Cristine Santanna, a native Brazilian who plays for Georgia, said earlier that the "Olympics is a time for peace now."
"I see all the nations get together. ... I am very upset about it. I wish everybody would be at peace, especially during the Olympics," she said.
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Associated Press writers Jimmy Golen and Stephen Wilson contributed to this report.
