Georgian Olympic Committee confirms it will take part in Sochi Olympics

TBILISI, Georgia — Georgia has confirmed it will take part in next year's Winter Olympics in Russia.

Georgia's participation in the Sochi Games had been under question because of lingering resentment over the short war between the countries in 2008.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili talk to the media in the Treaty Room at the State Department in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Sochi is located just north of the separatist Georgian territory of Abkhazia, from which the last Georgian forces were driven out in the war and which Russia and a handful of other countries now recognize as independent.

Some members of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's party strongly opposed sending a team to the Sochi Games.

But the Georgian Olympic Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to take part.

Committee president Leri Khabelov says, "I am happy that the preparations of our Olympians have not been in vain."

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