Georgia president tells Games team to stay

BEIJING (Reuters) - Georgia's 35 Olympic athletes have been told by their president to remain at the Games in the "best interest of the country" despite Russian military attacks on its territory.

President Mikheil Saakashvili's message to continue was relayed to the team at an 0200 (1800 GMT) meeting on Sunday by the country's first lady who is in Beijing, spokesman Giorgi Tchanishvili told Reuters.

"The whole team has had hardly any sleep," he said. "We were ready to leave the Olympic Games and we were waiting until very late for this decision.

"The First Lady (Sandra) then addressed the whole team in the Olympic Village at about 2am and told us we should stay in the best interest of the country."

Earlier, the National Olympic Committee had said it would be willing to quit the Games because of the violence in Georgia.

Saakashvili called for a ceasefire on Saturday after Russian bombers widened an offensive to force back Georgian troops seeking control over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Russian officials on Saturday put the death toll at 2,000 and 30,000 refugees from South Ossetia had fled to Russia.

The Georgian Olympic team urged the international community to help end the violence.

"This deliberate strategy of aggression has grown into a full-scale military intervention involving all regions of Georgia," the athletes said in a statement issued to Reuters.

"Georgia calls upon the international community to make it clear (to Russia) that intrusion into and bombing of the territory of a sovereign state is unacceptable in the 21st century and that such acts cannot and will not be tolerated."

(Editing by Ed Osmond)