Iraq banned from Beijing Summer Olympics

[Paul]

BAGHDAD - The International Olympic Committee says Iraq will not compete at Beijing Olympics because of government interference.

Iraq has been banned because of a government decision to disband the country's National Olympic Committee after Baghdad dismissed elected officials and installed its own people who are not recognized by the IOC, a senior official of the committee said on Thursday.

The IOC decision culminates a drawn-out internal feud in Iraq that many see as an extension of Shiite payback to Sunnis who once held a cozy niche in Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Iraq’s government disbanded the committee in May because of a dispute over how it had been assembled. Among the claims was it was illegitimate because it lacked a legal quorum — but four members of the committee, including its chief, were kidnapped two years ago and their fates are unknown. The IOC had given Iraq a deadline to reinstate the body, but the government has refused to back down.

The IOC Charter forbids political interference in the Olympic movement.
"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, said.

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

There’s also a potential sectarian rift. Iraq’s Youth and Sports Ministry is dominated by Shiites, while the NOC includes several holdovers from the Saddam-era Olympic Committee, run by his feared eldest son, Odai.

Missed deadline
The International Olympics Committee denounced the order as “serious interference” in what is supposed to be an independent body and demanded the government respect the NOC’s autonomy.

“Clearly we’d very much like to have seen Iraq’s athletes in Beijing,” IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said Thursday. “We are very disappointed that the athletes have been so ill-served by their own government’s actions.”

Iraq missed a Wednesday deadline to submit a team for the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Games because of a stalemate between the two sides.

The country 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.

This year, at least five Iraqi athletes were expected to compete in Beijing in sports including archery, judo, rowing and weightlifting. Their spots were given to other nations by the IOC.

Iraqi sports officials reacted with disbelief and outrage as they watched the efforts for Beijing vanish. Iraq has only one medal — a bronze in weightlifting in 1960 — since its first appearance at the Summer Olympics in 1948.

“Unjust,” said Fawzi Akram, a member of the sports committee in parliament. “Iraq is passing through an exception period and should be given special consideration.”

The official who received the IOC’s letter — Jassim Mohammed Jaafar, the minister of sport and youth — grumbled: “We reject this unfair decision.”

Basil Abdul-Mahdi, an adviser to the Iraqi minister for youth and sport, said the government never had any intention of reversing its decision and the ban was no surprise. He said Iraqi participation in Arab regional competitions would be unaffected.

“We will bring suit to defend our sports rights,” Abdul-Mahdi said.

The IOC says the Iraqi government did not accept an invitation to come to its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, to try to end the dispute.

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.
“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.

But Davies suggested there was still a possibility for last-ditch talks to salvage Iraq’s place before the games open Aug. 8.

“If there can be some movement and if a resolution can be found, that’s still an open door,” she told CNN. When asked if there’s a window of about a week, she said “Correct.”

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 favored 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.

Making a case
The IOC and Olympic Council of Asia jointly sent a letter Wednesday to Iraq’s minister for youth and sport Jassem Mohammed Jaafar confirming Iraq’s suspension “despite joint efforts.... over the past few months to find a positive solution with Iraqi authorities.”

Iraq’s government said after the June 4 suspension it wanted to meet with the IOC “to make its legitimate case.”

It said the decision to dissolve the Olympic committee was based on “solid evidence of blatant corruption, lack of legitimate transparent electoral processes and accountability and absence of ratified legislation.”

IOC spokeswoman Davies said the suspension destroyed progress made in Iraq’s sporting community since the fall of Saddam in 2003.

Iraq’s athletes are not the first to miss an Olympic Games because of government interference.

In the most recent case, Afghanistan was prevented from sending a team to the Sydney games in 2000 because of the Taliban regime’s intervention in sports administration.

In the most recent case, Afghanistan was prevented from sending a team to the Sydney Games in 2000 when the Taliban regime’s heavy hand extended to sports.

The U.S. Olympic Committee also had a stake in the Iraq team, signing an agreement in 2006 to help with training for Beijing.

White House press secretary Dana Perino expressed disappointment.
“I’m sure that the Iraqi athletes who have trained so hard and were finally going to represent a country that is free and sovereign and working to establish its democracy, they have to be terribly disappointed, and I’m disappointed for the athletes as well,” she said.

While many Iraqi officials rallied behind the government, the mood among fans was sour.

“The (IOC) decision will be a catastrophe for Iraqi sports,” said Dia Hussein, coach of the Iraq Police Soccer team, which plays in the national league. “I blame the Iraqi government for bringing this on the country.”

Yaroub Kadim, a 22-year-old university student, described sports as “one of the only real lifelines connecting everyone in the country.”