Soviets reported paying costs of many Olympians

The Soviet Union is paying expenses for nearly half the national teams competing in the Moscow Olympic Games, raising the specter that participation is being bought, Count Jean de Beaumont, a member of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) executive board told reporters. The Soviets are financing 40 of the 86 national committees sending teams to Moscow, he said.

Speaking to reporters on the first day of a two-day executive session here to plan for the Olympics, The French count said he did not know how much the Soviets were spending to get nations to attend their summer Olympics. He declined to name the countries receiving money from Moscow.

"Some countries have just two or three athletes, and they [the Soviets] are getting them there so that they can just have another country, another flag in the parade," he said.