Iraq at the 2008 Summer Olympics
| Iraq at the 2008 Summer Olympics |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||||||
| IOC code | IRQ | ||||||||
| NOC | National Olympic Committee of Iraq | ||||||||
| Website |
www |
||||||||
| in Beijing | |||||||||
| Competitors | 4 in 2 sports | ||||||||
| Flag bearer | Hamzah Al-Hilfi | ||||||||
| Medals |
|
||||||||
| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |||||||||
Iraq competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. As of late July, seven Iraqis—two rowers, a weightlifter, a sprinter, a discus thrower, a judoka and an archer—had qualified to compete in seven events in five sports at the Beijing Olympics, and twenty have qualified to take part in the Beijing Paralympics (see Iraq at the 2008 Summer Paralympics).
On July 24, 2008, it was announced that Iraq would be banned from the 2008 Olympics. After five days of negotiations, the International Olympic Committee lifted the ban. Five of Iraq's seven athletes missed the deadlines for their competitions, though the men's rowing team was allowed to compete by the International Rowing Federation, after North Korea declined the offer of places in rowing and they were re-allocated to Iraq.
Thus, Iraq has four representatives: Haidar Nasir in the discus throw, Dana Hussein in sprinting, and Haidar Nozad and Hamzah Hussein Jebur in men's double scull.
On July 24, the International Olympic Committee announced that it was banning Iraq from the Olympics due to political influence within Iraq's national Olympic committee. The decision follows the Iraqi government's suspension of the National Olympic Committee of Iraq in May 2008, citing the lack of sufficient members for quorum and the consequent risk of corruption as concerns. The government appointed an acting panel led by Jasem Muhammad Jaafar, the Minister of Sports, in its place. The former chairman, Ahmad al-Samarra'i, the secretary-general and several other members of the committee have been missing after being kidnapped when attending a public meeting in July 2006.
...
Wikipedia