Iraqi athletes have Olympic dreams (good news from Iraq - Take that Kennedy)

www.stripes.com ^ | By Kent Harris

[bogdanPolska12]

BAGHDAD — This war-torn country is not yet ready to challenge the United States, Russia or the world’s top sporting nations on the Olympic medal chart, but hopes are growing that Iraq will send a sizable delegation to the games in Athens, Greece, this summer.

Two athletes already have received invitations: Raad Abbas Rasheed will participate in tae kwon do and sprinter Al’aa Hikmet will compete in the 100- and 200-meter events. The country’s National Olympic Committee, reformed after the fall of Saddam Hussein, also has aspirants in boxing, weightlifting, swimming, wrestling, and track and field.

But Iraq’s biggest sports hope might lie with the under-23 soccer team, which has been leading its Asian qualifying tournament. Soccer is essentially as big in Iraq as it is worldwide.

Ahmed al-Samarrai, president of Iraq’s Olympic committee, said that just sending athletes to Athens is a victory. A former captain and later coach of the country’s national basketball team, al-Samarrai said athletes in Iraq face an array of disadvantages now, with a lack of training facilities and financial support topping the list.

“Athens is a symbol really,” he said Friday as the country’s new national Olympic logo was unveiled. He said the country hopes to do better at the Arab Games in Algeria in September and then field a large and competitive squad at the Olympics in Beijing in 2008.

“Hopefully, with the help of friendly countries, we will be able to reopen our facilities,” he said.

A lot of that help is already under way. Coalition Provisional Authority chief administrator L. Paul Bremer announced that $3 million would be given to refurbish Al Shaab Stadium, where the country formerly hosted international soccer matches. The stadium in Baghdad, often referred to as Olympic Stadium, is in poor repair and the national team plays all its “home” games in Amman, Jordan.

The coalition authority already had donated $10 million to help rebuild the country’s national sports programs.

In the meantime, friendly countries are hosting Iraqi athletes who are training in the hopes of qualifying for Athens. Iraqis are swimming in Canada, wrestling in Germany, sprinting in the United States and lifting weights in Bulgaria.

Rasheed has done virtually all his training at a variety of clubs in Iraq. He defeated the reigning world champion in his weight class during a qualification tournament in Thailand, but wound up fifth overall — two spots short of an automatic bid.

He was given a wild card spot, however, to compete in Athens.

He said through an interpreter that his performance in Thailand makes him believe that he’s capable of doing well at the games.

“Participating in the Olympics is a dream for everyone in any sport,” he said. “I ask God to at least let me get a medal, so I can see the Iraqi flag raised.”

Rasheed has participated in only a handful of international tournaments and a few of those were when the country’s sports programs were under the thumb of Saddam’s son, Odai.

Odai was known for torturing athletes who didn’t live up to his expectations. A visit to the now-bombed-out Olympic headquarters — a few blocks from the stadium — was not something to look forward to.

Bremer said he hoped that sports could serve to bring Iraqis of all faiths and ethnicities together.

“Around the world, sport is a powerful and expedient way to transcend the many boundaries often created by complex issues like politics, race and gender equity,” he said. “Today’s Olympic ceremony is truly another reminder that Iraq is back.”

Or at least on the way.

“This is the most happiest day in the lives of the athletes in Iraq,” al-Samarrai said.

[Sender]

Thanks for posting good news from Iraq. This needs to be told.

[bogdanPolska12]

FYI.

Somebody needs to write to Kennedy and tell him to shot the hell up, he made the stupidest comment ever heard, comparing Iraq to Vietnam. What the hell is wrong with these democrats!

[rabidralph]

also has aspirants in boxing, weightlifting, swimming, wrestling, and track and field.

Where are their sport pistol athletes?

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[Reader of news]

The media and the DemocRATS always hide the good news from Iraq.
Iraq is in the path to progress and freedom.

[TomGuy]

Teddy K is trying to out-nutso Senator Byrd who is slightly more nutso than Orin Hatch who is slightly more nutso than Senator McCain.

Just those four names are further proof we need term limits and mandatory retirement of elected officials.

[billorites]

The Iraqi women's swim team is killer.

[laconic]

I'm sure things are progressing in parts, perhaps most of the country of Iraq. But is it worth it? Is it worth 600 of our best young Americans dead (another seven this morning) and, much less important, $200 billion in US monies for just the first year? Is it worth Bush losing the election and conservatives losing the Supreme Court for a generation, which is probable if this civil uprising continues? I'm not a naysayer and I know our troops are doing a wonderful job in often horrific circumstances but I've thought this war was a needless, grievous mistake from the start. The fact that Iraq will have an Olympic team does nothing to change that view. And do you think we would be there if we had a draft and the sons of the civilian Pentagon decision-making elite (many of whom worked on endless degrees to earn their own draft deferments during Vietnam), much less those of Congress and the Ivy League, stood the slightest chance of being sent there? I strongly doubt it.

[numberonepal]

Good News indeed. Everyone please freepmail or ping me on ANY good news.

[Savage Beast]

Ted Kennedy--"Camelot"'s last desperate gasp (a fitting end).

[MeekOneGOP]

Somebody needs to write to Kennedy and tell him to shot the hell up, he made the stupidest comment ever heard, comparing Iraq to Vietnam ....

Yeah, and PMSNBC 'BS'* is running a poll on that too, the idjits.

* I love Rush referring to the lamestream media like that. A'BS', C'BS', N'BS', CNN'BS', etc. ....

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

This war-torn country is not yet ready to challenge the United States, Russia or the world’s top sporting nations on the Olympic medal chart, but hopes are growing that Iraq will send a sizable delegation to the games in Athens, Greece, this summer.

Two athletes already have received invitations: Raad Abbas Rasheed will participate in tae kwon do and sprinter Al’aa Hikmet will compete in the 100- and 200-meter events. The country’s National Olympic Committee, reformed after the fall of Saddam Hussein, also has aspirants in boxing, weightlifting, swimming, wrestling, and track and field.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks, bogdan!

We have to convince our fellow Americans to look beyond the mainstream press for the news because we are not going to change this press this election year.

Stories like this one appear regularly in the military news sources, and from the DoD...easy to find for anyone connected to the net, and, thanks to Al Gore, that includes most everyone who so chooses.

Ignorance, in post-911 America, is a bad excuse.

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[blackie]

Good News ~ Bump!

We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!

~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~

[VOA]

I'm sure things are progressing in parts, perhaps most of the country of Iraq.
But is it worth it?

As Ronald Reagan would say, this is "A Time For Choosing".

We are finding out who are the sheep and who are the goats.
So far, Old Europe (France, Germany, Spanish Voters, etc.) have declared themselves
to be part of Team Goat.
(Given the attempts to give aid-and-comfort to the Islamofacists in
our own country, I think the Goats also are automatically qualified to
be part of Team Jackass; no disrepect meant to all the hard working mules out there.)

Everyone has to look into their soul (or whatever New-Age equivalent they might
believe in) and decide where they will stand.

[Valin]

Somebody needs to write to Kennedy and tell him to shot the hell up, he made the stupidest comment ever heard, comparing Iraq to Vietnam.

I have every confidence that he'll top himself.
Remember when it comes to making stupis statements ol Teddy is among the best in the world.

[Valin]

I'm sure things are progressing in parts, perhaps most of the country of Iraq. But is it worth it? Is it worth 600 of our best young Americans dead (another seven this morning) and, much less important, $200 billion in US monies for just the first year?

Short answer, YES

Is it worth Bush losing the election and conservatives losing the Supreme Court for a generation, which is probable if this civil uprising continues?

You're making a couple of assumtions there.