The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) plans to spend some $5.4 million on the Russian Olympic team’s participation in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, a ROC official said Thursday.

The number of athletes going to the Olympics in China has yet to be finalized as some qualifying events have still not taken place, but at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens the Russian delegation consisted of 1,200 people, including 476 athletes.

Inna Shevelkova, a deputy head of the ROC department for economic policy and finances, said the funds are intended for lodging, transport services, flights, insurance, and other expenses.

“Every [Russian] Olympic athlete will have insurance worth $100,000,” Shevelkova said.

She added that about $6 million will come from other sources rather the ROC budget, i.e. through voluntary contributions and contractual payments.

All these figures, Shevelkova said, will be soon sent to the Russian Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sport for the agency to include them in its budget of expenditures.

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