Back in the Games: Athens appearance marks Iraq's return

Emblazoned on the backs of their royal blue and white trim tops, the members of Iraq's boxing team bear a message for the world: Iraq is Back.

After a 12-year hiatus from the Olympics -- years marked by war and the brutal treatment of its athletes -- Iraq indeed is back in the Games. Led by its revitalized men's football squad, the modest seven-sport, 25-member Iraqi team arrived in Athens on Monday.

"Lifting the Iraqi flag over the skies of Athens will be a great defining moment for our country," Ahmed al-Samarrai, the head of Iraq's Olympic Committee told the athletes at a rousing Aug. 6 sendoff.

Iraq will make its Athens debut today against Portugal in the men's football tournament. In a first-round group with Morocco and Costa Rica, they are not expected to advance. But, of course, they were not expected to compete in the Olympics.

"I don't think they are as weak a team as they say," Portugal coach Jose Pratas said. "Their game is very smart and they are well organized."

Iraq is not exactly an Olympic powerhouse. It has but one medal: a weightlifting bronze, earned 44 years ago in the 1960 Rome games when Abdul Wahid Aziz lifted 380 kg (837-1/2 pounds).

But its men's football team does have a respectable resume and likely will be the focus of the nation's soccer-crazed fans.

The men qualified for the Games with a stirring 3-1 victory over Saudi Arabia in July's Asian Cup, a moment al-Samarrai described as "the biggest moment in Iraq's Olympic history."

Iraq last competed in the Games in 1992, but the men's team appearance in Athens marks its first appearance on the Olympic pitch since the 1988 Seoul Games. Iraq's best finish was when it reached the quarterfinals in Moscow in 1980. Its overall Olympic record is 2-3-5.

* Diminutive Najah Ali (48kg/106 lbs) is Iraq's only boxer. At 4-foot-11, Ali is trained by American Maurice "Termite" Watkins. Watkins fought for the WBC junior welterweight title in 1980.

* Alaa Jassim, who will sprint in the 100m, is one of two Iraqis competing in athletics and is the nation's only female athlete in Athens.

* Weightlifter Mohammed Ali (56kg/123 lbs) finished ninth in the snatch at the 2003 Worlds in Vancouver.

In Iraq, where football rules, most of the attention will be on the men's team. Iraq won the Asian Cup in 1982 to qualify for the World Cup. A national league began developing in the 80s and the sport is played on dusty fields throughout the nation.

But under the reign of Saddam's Hussein's oldest son Uday, national athletes often were tortured or imprisoned as punishment for bad play. Soccer team members often were singled out. The men's team fell to 139 in FIFA's world rankings.

With Saddam Hussein now in prison and Uday killed during the United States' war with Iraq, football is rising again -- from scratch.

"After the war there was nothing left," former senior national team coach Bernd Stange told The San Diego Union-Tribune. "Iraqi football had to start from zero -- no soccer balls, no pitches, no nets, no goalposts."

Bernd Stange, the former East German coach, was named to lead the Iraq team in 2003. Advised to leave the country during the Iraq War, he was robbed while fleeing from Baghdad to Jordan. He worked with assistants by phone at training sessions while trying to raise money in Europe.

"It's better to bring soccer balls and shirts and medicine to Baghdad than tanks and arms and all this rubbish," Stange said.

Frustrated, Stange finally quit last month, but his efforts seem to be paying off. Along with the Asian Cup win and the Olympic berth, Iraq's senior men's team has risen to 40th in FIFA's rankings.

"This is a dream," midfielder Hiadar Abdul Qader told The Washington Post after Iraq qualified for the Games. "I don't have words to express how I feel. Walking into the Olympic Stadium? I couldn't imagine it. I can't imagine it."

Good luck to all of Iraq's athletes. Good showings could do amazing things for the morale of a country deeply in need of a boost.

Considering Portugal is one of the best teams in the world and is favored to medal in these Olympics, any respectable showing by the Iraqis will be a victory. But I'll be watching today, hoping for another "Greece" type moment.

Weightlifter Mohammed Ali (56kg/123 lbs) finished ninth in the snatch at the 2003 Worlds in Vancouver.

Commenting on his trip to the Olympics, Ali said, "I am the greatest! I am the greatest! I rule the world!"

At least they won't be tortured when they lose. That's Bush's fault.

3 posted on 08/12/2004 9:23:09 AM PDT by Mister Baredog ((Part of the Reagan legacy is to re-elect G.W. Bush))

When they win a medal, the French will protest.

Iraqis hanging tough, answering an early Portuguese goal with one of their own.

Tied at 1 20 minutes in.

6 posted on 08/12/2004 10:49:50 AM PDT by TomB ("The terrorist wraps himself in the world's grievances to cloak his true motives." - S. Rushdie)

"It's better to bring soccer balls and shirts and medicine to Baghdad than tanks and arms and all this rubbish," Stange said.

That "rubbish" liberated the country, jerk.

7 posted on 08/12/2004 10:57:34 AM PDT by bruin66 (Time: Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once.)

GOOOOOOOAAAAAALL!!!!

Iraq leads 2-1 at 30:00

8 posted on 08/12/2004 11:00:29 AM PDT by TomB ("The terrorist wraps himself in the world's grievances to cloak his true motives." - S. Rushdie)

The Iraqis give up a late one and the score is tied at 2 at the half.

Maybe a call from Saddam to the locker room during halftime will rally the troops.

"Uh, guard? I'd like to use my one phonecall now."

9 posted on 08/12/2004 11:27:11 AM PDT by TomB ("The terrorist wraps himself in the world's grievances to cloak his true motives." - S. Rushdie)

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