South Ossetian weightlifter disturbed by conflict

By KARL RITTER August 11, 2008

BEIJING (AP) With violence raging at home, it's difficult to focus on the Olympics for Arsen Kasabiev, one of two Georgian weightlifters from the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

The 94-kilogram (207-pound) strongman calls his family back home every day to make sure they are safe from the airstrikes and shelling in the province's capital, Thsinkvali.

"It's a very big tragedy for me," the 20-year-old Kasabiev told The Associated Press in an interview after Monday's training.

He said his family was OK, but thinking about the destruction at home affects his concentration.

"I don't know about politics," he said in broken English. "But I know one thing: War is very bad. People, not politicians, but people get killed. It's very bad."

There are nearly three dozen Olympic athletes from Georgia anxiously following the news of clashes between Russian and Georgian forces in the separatist province, which broke away from Georgian control in 1992.

Kasabiev, whose native language is Russian, said he and fellow weightlifter Albert Kuzilov are the only South Ossetians in the Georgian Olympic squad.

The Georgian government has decided to keep the 35-member team at the Olympics, but even if that were to change, Kasabiev said he wasn't going to leave.

"If the Georgian team goes home, I don't go, because this is the Olympic Games," Kasabiev said. "Sports is not politics for me."

Russia sent tanks and troops into South Ossetia and bombed Georgian towns Saturday in a major escalation of the conflict that has left hundreds of dead and wounded. Georgia, a staunch U.S. ally, launched a major offensive Friday to retake control of the province. Russia, which has close ties to the province and posts peacekeepers there, responded by sending in armed convoys and military combat aircraft.

Kasabiev, in his second Olympics, was training squats with 180-kg (397-pound) weights Monday as he prepared for the men's 94-kg (207-pound) competition on Sunday.

In between his exercises, he chatted casually with Russian and other lifters in the large training hall at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

"I have many friends in Russia, not only Russia but other countries," he said.

Kasabiev lives and trains in Poland for Georgia team coach Ivane Grikurovi, who is also from Thsinkvali. The coach worried that the young athlete was being distracted by the fighting in South Ossetia.

"He doesn't have full concentration," Grikurovi said. "It's very bad."

Neither wanted to talk about goals for the competition, saying they were focusing only on training right now. Kasabiev was 14th at the 2004 Athens Games and finished seventh at last year's world championships.