Iraqi Archers in U.S. Shoot for Olympics

The archers came to hit the bull’s-eye, help Iraq reenter international athletic competition ... and shop.

Members of Iraq’s National Archery Team, who were brought to the United States as the Bush administration’s first sports initiative after the downfall of Saddam Hussein, took part in an American-style news conference on Saturday.

They caught on quickly, posing with their bows for pictures in a midtown Manhattan hotel and pressing the need for programs to develop athletes in the former dictatorship.

“This is very big for us to include our athletes,” said Mustafa Saraj, the team’s coordinator, who also acted as translator for archers who only spoke Arabic.

Naturally, he was asked about the group’s initial impressions of New York.

“It’s a beautiful country. It’s a big city,” Saraj said with diplomatic aplomb.

Would there be time to shop?

“Definitely,” he said with a smile.

Said his teammate Afrah Abas, 34: “It’s a dream for me to participate.”

Abas, who has a degree in physical education from the University of Baghdad, is one of three women on the seven-member squad.

The Iraqi archers will take part in the World Archery Championships starting Monday in New York (the finals will be held next weekend in Manhattan’s Central Park). The competitions are qualifying events for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Later, the archers will visit Washington and train at the U.S. Olympic Committee’s archery facility in Chula Vista, Calif.

Preparing to compete against athletes from 80 countries in the championships has not been easy. During the chaos of war, team members were unable to practice properly and getting around was difficult.

Saraj said the team recently began practicing with targets set up in soccer fields.

Uday Hussein, Saddam Hussein’s eldest son, used to head Iraq’s National Olympic Committee. That committee was dissolved by U.S. officials in the country, who charged that it served not only as a front for some of Uday Hussein’s businesses, but as “an instrument of torture, repression and corruption.”

The visit to the U.S. is part of the International Olympic Committee’s goal of identifying talented athletes and setting up programs for a variety of sports in Iraq so that the country can compete in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games.

Bringing the archers to the U.S. required intensive effort, the organizers said, and included meetings in Jordan and Kuwait. Representatives of the State Department, the International Olympic Committee, the U.S. Olympic Committee, the International Archery Federation and the National Archery Assn. took part in the planning.

Patricia Harrison, assistant secretary of State for educational and cultural affairs, said it was appropriate the archers were in New York, whose welcoming symbol is the Statue of Liberty.

“Liberty is a key word,” Harrison said. “Our programs will be an important resource to Iraqi men and women as they construct a civil society and as they take their place in leadership roles and as communities rebuild.”