Olympics website removes claim Gali is Russian territory
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A Georgian-born alpine skier has had her place of birth deleted from the official website of the Sochi Olympics in Russian and English languages.
Marika Pertakhiya was born in Gali, Abhkazia. Until recently, the place of birth of the 21-year-old, who represents Russia in the Sochi Olympic Games, was written on the official Olympic website as Gali, Russia. The website stated Gali was province in the republic of Abkhazia. Gali is a district in the de-facto Abkhazia, which is a breakaway region of Georgia.
Earlier today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia stated the Georgian Olympic Committee would inform the International Olympic Committee about the problem.
"We informed our Olympic Committee members yesterday evening. They will try to connect with the International Committee members about the issue. We hope the problem will be solved timely,” the Ministry said this morning.
Georgia's flag bearer, alpine skier Nino Tsiklauri, led the small Georgian delegation around the stadium during the Opening Ceremony held at the Fisht Olympic Stadium on February 7.
Georgia will be represented in Sochi only by the sporting delegation and the Olympic Committee that will participate in the events organized by the International Olympic Committee.
Earlier today Georgia's Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili released an official statement to Olympians and said it was a "great honour" to participate in an Olympic Games.
Georgia’s Special Representative for Relations with Russia announced South Ossetia’s de-facto leader was not officially invited to the Sochi Winter Olympic Games.