Beijing: Georgia may pull its 35-strong Olympic team out of the Beijing Games because of Russian military attacks on its territory, the country's National Olympic Committee said on Saturday.
"We're talking about it now. It will be the decision of the president of the country (Mikheil Saakashvili)," spokesman Giorgi Tchanishvili said in the Chinese capital.
The Georgia conflict has knocked the Olympics down page, dimming some of China's glory. The vast Asian nations's hopes for a trouble-free games were dashed on Saturday by the daylight murder of the US volleyball coach's father-in-law.
Calls by the International Olympic Committee for a traditional Games truce to be honoured have gone unheard, in a reminder of the limits of sport's ability to bring nations into harmony.
Russian forces have widened an offensive against Georgia to force Tbilisi's troops out of the breakaway Caucasus region of South Ossetia, whose inhabitants are loyal to Moscow.
Russian armour and troops have poured across the border and its planes have hit bombed targets far from the combat zone in what US President George W Bush called a dangerous escalation.
Georgia's parliament has declared a state of war, leaving the country's athletes anxious and uncertain. Its Olympic team urged the international community to help end the violence.
Bush, in Beijing to cheer on US athletes, broke away from spectating to call on Russia to end its bombing of Georgia.
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