view photoBAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq cannot take part in the Beijing Olympics because it disbanded the country's Olympic Committee although a comment from the IOC, which organises the Games, 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.
view photo"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.
view photoIOC DISAPPOINTED
The IOC, which has long supported Iraqi athletes training abroad to prepare for the Games, said it was "very disappointed with this development".
view photoAmidi 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.
However, the IOC said the Olympic Charter forbids political interference in the Olympic Movement.
Rule 28(9) of the Charter provides for the suspension of an NOC in the event that "any governmental body...causes the activity of the NOC...to be hampered."
The Iraqi government was invited to come to Lausanne to discuss possible remedies but did not positively respond to the IOC's invitation, the IOC said.
DETERMINED ATHLETES
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.
Over the last five years, the IOC and the wider Olympic family have provided funding and training opportunities to support Iraq's NOC and more than 50 Iraqi athletes and coaches.
"The Iraqi government's actions have destroyed this progress," an IOC official said.
(Writing by Mohammed Abbas; additional reporting by Karolos Grohmann in Athens and Wisam Mohammed and Tim Cocks in Baghdad; editing by Jon Bramley and Ken Ferris)
Comment 1 - 14 of 14
If you want to call torture politics......but then again , how can we say anything if the USA has made torture legal?
I doubt that what is going on in foreign prison cells and Guantanamo Bay, under the Bush administrations orders, is any worse then anything happening in China...
Some things should be free of politics and the one thing just now that should be is the Olympics....after all it was Hitler who brought the olympics back in Berlin, out of oppression came a great thing. Let not a great thing like the Olympics fall because of political oppression. The good people of Iraqi's have certainly seen enough of that over the last two decade dont you think?
Some things should be free of politics and the one thing just now that should be is the Olympics....after all it was Hitler who brought the olympics back in Berlin, out of oppression came a great thing. Let not a great thing like the Olympics fall because of political oppression. The Iraqi's have certainly seen enough of that over the last two decade dont you think?
Yep even unstable country's athletical teams should be helped into the olympics,members of the UN should support iraqi athletes and help to get the iraqi goverment that handles the olympics get back together maybe just in time if countries like Britian and U.S.A support it.
good
i didnt think they were allowed in the first place
or north korea or iran
come to think of it or russia
This is very depressing. Everyone gets a share of the olympics, even Iraq. Iraq are in distress after the invasion. but that doesn't mean they're kicked out of the bejeing olympics
My heart is with these athletes. No matter what country they are from, they have spent the last 5 years training to reach their peek next month. Politics should have NO influence on sport. The olympics should be bringing the world together, not causing heartbreak to these gifted individuals. Hopefully there will be a last minute solution. GOOD LUCK!
Chris C ( Southampton, England )
Hey....Iam Sudad from Baghdad....i think the decision of the Iraqi goverment is right because all the staff in Iraqi Olympic are groups of gangs and not qualafied to their positions.
but but but....bad timing....bad timing,,,they should wait until beijing olympic ended.
this is very unfair. I hope they do go. is this another of the blunders of the IOC the first one being giving the games to china the second one not doing anything about the iraqi case until now? good luck to the iraqi athletes in any case.
sf
this is very unfair. I hope they do go. is this another of the blunders of the IOC the first one being giving the games to china the second one not doing anything about the iraqi case until now? good luck to the iraqi athletes in any case.
Rules are rules. Sad that it means athletes can't compete but where would be without rules? Maybe there should be no IOC committees at all, each country has trials and then puts forward teams. But until this is the case, the rules have to apply to everyone.
i was expecting this because of government and any body leaves this country they never want to go back because there is a stupid government they don't care about people they just want to steal money they don't care about sport football or Olympic
This is so sad. Those athletes have worked hard and deserve recognition for that. They should have their place. This is another nail in the coffin in terms of the suffering Iraqis have faced over the last few years!
All the countries that are currently fighting in Iraq are fighting for one common purpose to free the Iraqi people from repression and tyrany.
If Iraq is to be accepted into the worlds boson then the Olympics are an integral part of this process. So they do not have a representative of the OIC. Get a grip
Id welcome their participation
Derek Taylor
Dundee
UK
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