Bulgaria will be represented at the Beijing Olympics by at least 78 sportsmen and women who have so far managed to fulfil the Olympic quotas for the Games in August, the Bulgarian Olympic Committee (BOC) said Wednesday.

BOC president Stefka Kostadinova said that she hopes that the number of athletes increases to 85, stating the fact that since Seoul 1988 - Bulgaria's most successful Olympics to date (10 gold medals and 35 in total) - the number of athletes participating has dropped by one or two dozen with every games since.

"But the quality is important, not the number," said Kostadinova, who won silver in Seoul and Gold in Atlanta in the high jump, and has held the world record since 1987.

The number of people participating will become clear on July 1, while the precise participants will become clear by July 23, she said.

Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov has said that he will arrive in the Chinese capital on August 16, local press reported. He will be joined by State Agency for Youth and Sports chairman Vesela Lecheva and Sofia Mayor Boiko Borisov.

The official sending off of the national Olympic delegation will take place at the end of July at the Alexander Nevsky church in Sofia.

Besides, the BOC's anti-doping rules, as suggested by the IOC, were officially adopted on Wednesday.

(Xinhua News Agency June 26, 2008)