IOC Bans Iraq From Beijing Olympics

The International Olympic Committee has announced that Iraq will not be allowed to enter a team in the Beijing Olympics.

The Iraqi Olympic team was already the subject of an interim ban after the Iraqi government replaced the country’s Olympic committee with its own appointees.
Under the IOC charter, all committees must be free of political influence.

Iraq had been planning to send a team of at least seven athletes to the Olympics which start on 8th August. Two rowers, a weightlifter, a sprinter, a discus thrower, a judoka and an archer were in the frame for the trip to Beijing.

Said an IOC spokesperson: ‘The deadline for taking up places for Beijing for all sports except athletics has now passed. The IOC very sadly has now to acknowledge that it is likely there will be no Iraqi presence at the Beijing Olympic Games, despite our best efforts.

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

The Iraq government dissolved the National Olympic Committee in May and the interim IOC ban was put in place on 4th June.

The IOC added that the Iraqi government had been asked to travel to Switzerland to meet to discuss possible remedies but failed to do so.

The Iraqi government said it took the decision to appoint a new committee because the previous one was corrupt and had not been functioning properly.

Ahmad al-Samarra’i, chairman of the committee dismissed by the government, and several other members had previously been abducted by gunmen while attending a meeting in central Baghdad in July 2006. They have not been seen since.