UPDATE 1-Olympics-Georgia, Russia keep sport not war in focus

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By Erik Kirschbaum and Crispian Balmer

BEIJING Aug 10 (Reuters) - A Georgian competitor embraced her Russian rival on Sunday after they both won Olympic medals, hoping to show that an escalating conflict between their two nations will not spoil the sporting spirit at the Beijing Games.

The Georgian and Russian delegations both assured the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that they planned to stay in China despite the fighting over Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.

"If the world were to draw any lessons from what I did there would never be any wars," Georgia's Nino Salukvadze said after winning a bronze at an air pistol event and hugging Russia's Natalia Paderina, who won the silver.

"We live in the 21st Century, after all," Salukvadze added. "When it comes to sports we will always remain friends and nothing will effect our friendship, even in such a scary event as shooting."

Russian troops and tanks rolled into the former Soviet republic of Georgia on Friday after Georgian forces began an assault on the capital of the pro-Moscow breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Speculation that Georgia might pull out of the Games were squashed in the early hours of Sunday when the country's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, sent a message to the 35-strong team telling them to keep on competing.

The Russians also said they had no intention of leaving.

"This reflects the Olympic spirit," said IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies. "The IOC believes it is the right decision, especially for the athletes as it is a once in a lifetime experience for them."

Victor Khotochkin, first vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee, said sport and politics should not mix.

"We have our own point of view about what is going on, but we think this is a matter for the United Nations not the Beijing Olympics," he told Reuters.

Russia and Georgia have blamed each other for the fighting in the pro-Moscow enclave, which broke from Georgia as the Soviet Union split apart in the 1990s but has no international status.

"The IOC ... has asked both the Russian and the Georgian sides to be patient and to stick to the basic Olympic principles which we will certainly do," Khotochkin said, adding that his team had long-standing, warm relations with Georgia's squad.

A number of Russian athletes were either born in Georgia or have family members still living there, but Khotochkin denied that the conflict was hurting team morale.

"This is not affecting the mood of the athletes competing in the Games. Although obviously when you see all the casualties on the television one suffers a lot," he said.

Russian officials have said the death toll in fighting that began on Thursday stood at 2,000. Georgia said on Friday that it had lost up to 300 people killed, mainly civilians. (Editing by Jeremy Laurence)