Iraq banned from Beijing Games, says NOC chief

Thu, Jul 24 09:44 PM

By Waleed Ibrahim

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq cannot take part in the Beijing Olympics because it disbanded the country's Olympic Committee, a committee official said on Thursday, but a comment from the Games' organisers suggested the ban may not be final.

Iraq's government disbanded the committee in May because of a dispute over how it had been assembled. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had given Iraq a deadline to reinstate the body, but the government has refused to back down.

"This morning we were informed of the final decision of the International Olympic Committee to suspend the membership of the Iraqi Olympic Committee," Hussein al-Amidi, the general secretary of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, told Reuters.

"It is a blow to Iraq and its international reputation, its athletes and its youth," he added.

Iraq had planned to send a small team despite violence that has killed more than 100 athletes in the country since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

At least seven Iraqi athletes -- two rowers, a weightlifter, a sprinter, a discus thrower, a judoka and an archer -- had won places at the Beijing Games.

IOC DISAPPOINTED

The IOC, which has long supported Iraqi athletes training abroad to prepare for the Games, said it was "very disappointed with this development".

Amidi said there was no chance to appeal the IOC's decision, but a statement from the body suggested the ban was not final.

"We sent a letter to the Iraqi government today saying that as the situation stands today it is unlikely to have Iraqi athletes at the Beijing Games," said IOC spokesperson Emmanuelle Moreau.

The chances of Iraq reinstating its Olympic Committee seems slim. The government has said the committee was illegitimate because it lacked a quorum and had failed to hold new elections.

"There is no review of the government's decision because it was taken in accordance with the law," Youth and Sports Minister Jasem Mohammed Jaafar told Reuters.

Iraqi athletes had been determined to make their presence felt at the Beijing Games despite the difficulties they faced.

Athletes' reputations and international links make them and their families targets of violence in Iraq, and the country's sports infrastructure has decayed over decades.

Former basketball player and Iraqi Olympic Committee boss Ahmed al-Hadjiya was kidnapped along with other sports officials by gunmen who stormed a conference in broad daylight in 2006. They are still missing.

Sport gave Iraqis arguably their greatest moment of unity since the fall of Saddam Hussein, when an Iraqi soccer team including members of all its main warring groups defeated a heavily favoured Saudi Arabia to win the Asian Cup last year.

"I swear those athletes who have been training...they phoned me today and they were crying and were very upset," Amidi said.

(Additional reporting by Karolos Grohmann in Athens and Wisam Mohammed and Tim Cocks in Baghdad)

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