Iraq hits hurdle on way to Games

Four years after its athletes received a huge ovation at the first Olympics after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq was told Thursday that its seven-member team would not be allowed to compete in Beijing because of a dispute with the International Olympic Committee.

Olympic officials informed Iraq that it was barring the team because the government had dismissed the country’s Olympic committee and appointed a new body chaired by its youth and sports minister.

The IOC action two weeks before the Games’ opening ceremony came after it had threatened in June to bar Iraq from participating.

Iraqi officials have charged that the IOC was misrepresenting their efforts to rebuild the country’s executive Olympic body after a mass kidnapping two years ago. They said the new panel was appointed because after the kidnapping, the executive committee had been beset by corruption and a shortage of members.

“I am deeply saddened for the Iraqi athletes who did nothing wrong,” said Anita DeFrantz, the senior American member of the IOC. “It is hard to understand how a government in today’s world could purposely deny them their opportunity by fiat.”

IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies laid out hope that last-minute talks could save the day. “If there can be some movement and if a resolution can be found, that’s still an open door,” she told CNN. She estimated that Iraq had about a week to salvage the situation.

None of the seven Iraqi athletes, who were to compete in track and field, rowing, archery and weightlifting, were considered medal contenders. The track and field athletes, both sprinters, stand the best chance of still being able to compete because the deadline for entries in that sport comes after the Aug. 8 opening ceremony, according to the IOC.

While the IOC accused Iraq’s government of meddling in sports, Baghdad accused the IOC of failing to meet with Iraqi officials and of being under the thrall of favorites dating back to 2004, when the first post-Hussein Olympic committee was set up under the sponsorship of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority.

“It was an unfair decision against the Iraqi Olympic movement and Iraqi sports,” said Basil Adel Mehdi, an advisor to the minister of youth and sports. “It is a punishment against Iraqi athletes.”

The dispute is in part a legacy of Iraq’s civil conflict. More than 30 employees of the Iraqi Olympic organization were kidnapped by about 60 men dressed in Iraqi government security uniforms in July 2006. The chairman and three others on the 11-member national committee were never found. At the time, some sports observers suggested the abduction might have been linked to internal power struggles.

Star athletes in soccer, wrestling and martial arts also have been killed since 2006.

After the abductions, the committee dwindled from 11 members to three. In May 2007, the government made its first attempt to fill the empty slots, adding three more members, Mehdi said. A year later, the government disbanded that committee and appointed a new, temporary body.

Mehdi, who is the brother of Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mehdi, said that the old executive committee had been beset by corruption and that former members of Hussein’s Baath Party had continued to exert influence there. He accused former Baathists of playing a role in sabotaging Iraq’s relations with the IOC.

Mehdi accused the IOC of ignoring Iraqi government explanations and being evasive about planning a meeting to settle the dispute. In turn, the IOC says the Iraqi government did not respond to invitations to meet with Olympic officials in Lausanne, Switzerland, after they were warned in June.

The predominance of Shiites in the Ministry of Youth and Sports had fanned concerns that sectarian issues were at play in the case. Mehdi denied that. He said that the original executive body was appointed in 2004 under the U.S. occupation, and that it had been meant to serve for just one year before new elections. But instead of holding elections, committee members decided to extend their terms to five years.

Iraq participated in its first Olympics in 1948. It has won one medal, in 1960, a weightlifting bronze by Abdul Wahid Aziz.

But perhaps Iraq’s greatest Olympic moment was in 2004 in Athens, where the men’s soccer team reached the semifinals before finishing fourth. The soccer team failed to qualify for this Olympics.

There had been some question about whether Iraq would be allowed to attend the Athens Games, as well. The Iraqi Olympic committee was suspended by the IOC on May 17, 2003, but it restructured at that time and was reinstated Feb. 27, 2004. The delegation of Iraqi athletes was well received in Athens, getting one of the largest ovations during the opening ceremony.

--

ned.parker@latimes.com

helene.elliott@latimes.com

Parker reported from Baghdad and Elliott from Los Angeles. Times Sports Editor Randy Harvey in Los Angeles contributed to this report.