Australian athletes will not have insurance cover for terrorism when they attend the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Australian athletes will not have cover for terrorism insurance when they attend the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Australian Associated Press reported.
Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) president John Coates said the AOC could not afford the bill for the athletes, and officials and he would not be bothering to take out cover for themselves.
He said the extra A$1,500 (£543) per person would increase the team's total insurance bill from A$20,000 (£7,200) to A$110,000 (£39,800).
Coates told ABC Radio: "We've decided not to pay. We've had to give our athletes and all the sport officials notice that there wasn't the cover.
"If they wanted to, they were at liberty to take it themselves. I accompany the team, I'm certainly not going to, nor is our chef de mission, but we have to give them that opportunity."
He said very few athletes, whether competing in summer or winter sports, attracted the sponsorship deals that meant they could afford the premium and he doubted whether many would bother to scrape the money together.
"In my case, I don't think the risk is worth me paying A$1,500," Mr Coates said.
If the AOC paid the extra money, it would be setting a precedent for the much larger summer Olympic team in 2004, he said.
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