The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will endeavor to keep the size of the Olympic Games under control and manageable for future host cities, IOC president Jacques Rogge said on Sunday.

"We are very keen on keeping the number of 10,500 athletes," Rogge told a press conference hours before the closing ceremony of the Beijing Games.

More than 11,000 athletes were competing in 28 sports in Beijing, exceeding the cap of 10,500 on the number of the athletes for each Olympic Games.

Rogge said the excess was mainly wild card entrants in swimming and track and field, but insisted that it would not happen in future.

"This is not an issue that is going to last for the future, and we will definitely discuss with the two federations which has seen an increase, which is track and field and swimming," he said.

"We can issue wild cards for countries who have no qualified athletes, every country is entitled to have two athletes, either in swimming and track and field, men and women.

"But we had far more registration for the wild card now... We will make sure that it remains at 10,500."

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2008)