Citius, Altius, Fortius - Unless You Happen To Be Iraqi

MayorBob.

Posted to Sport on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 12:48:53 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.

One of the most stirring part of any Olympic Games is the opening ceremony. Athletes march into the host nation's stadium under their nation's banner to await the lighting of the torch. Yet, when this occurs on August 8th in Beijing one country's delegation won't be marching. That country, Iraq, will "probably not" make it because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has just, in effect, banned it from competing.

The problems with the Iraqi team began this past May when the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki disbanded the Iraqi National Olympic Committee (NOC) over concerns that it could not meet its quorum. The head of the Iraqi NOC and three other committee members were kidnapped and haven't been seen since 2006. Two other members resigned from the 11 member committee. It also turns out that the al-Maliki government was concerned about allegations of corruption among the remaining members. The replacements committee is, for the most part, a Shiite group and the IOC refused to recognize it. The IOC put Iraq on notice if it did not stop the "political interference" and general shenanigans going on with the NOC, the country's right to compete in Beijing was at risk.

The IOC delivered the bad news in a statement which noted the deadline had passed for nominations for competitors in all but track and field events. That means that five out of the total number of Iraqi athletes are barred from competing. There is a narrow window of opportunity for a discus thrower and a sprinter to still compete at Beijing. It would mean that the al-Maliki government would have to comply with IOC demands by this coming Thursday.

The ban is made possible through section 28(9) of the Olympic Charter (pdf doc) which authorizes action when "any governmental or other body causes the activity of the [National Olympic Committee] or the making or expression of its will to be hampered." But if you read the rest of the section, it doesn't automatically prescribe banning as the action of choice. It stipulates that the IOC executive board "may take any appropriate decisions for the protection of the Olympic Movement in the country of an NOC." In any event, the IOC executive board must allow the NOC to be heard before any action is taken. In this case, a majority of the original NOC is no longer around and the IOC refuses to recognize the replacements.

The decision to ban the Iraqi team is doubly disappointing in that the IOC had provided funds and resources to allow Iraqi athletes to prepare for the team. Then there is also the fact that accomplishments of the Iraqi soccer team at the 2004 Olympics played a huge role in bringing the war torn nation together for a brief while. It's also more than a bit ironic (okay, make that hypocritical) that the IOC is quick to wave the cudgel of banning today when it maintained (for the most part) a laissez faire attitude to what happened when Uday Hussein headed the Iraqi NOC. Have athletes from specific countries been banned from previous Olympiads? Yes, Iraq was barred during part of Saddam Hussein's regime (which is why it says for the most part above) as well as Afghanistan and South Africa. The consensus of most Iraqis at the latest downturn in Olympic fortunes was expressed by one Baghdad street vendor, "Sports is the only thing that brings unity to the Iraqis and brings us happiness -- and now it has been taken away."