Posted on 07/22/2004 2:11:10 PM PDT by the_devils_advocate_666
BAGHDAD -- Carrying the symbolic dreams of a new Iraq on her shoulders, Ala'a Hikmat sprints around a garbage-strewn dirt track during her evening practice, hopping over a yellow hose-pipe at every turn. The 19-year-old runner from Baghdad, the only woman in Iraq's 45-member delegation to Athens, will compete at the Olympics next month against a vastly faster field in the women's 100- and 200-meter races.
She doesn't expect to win. But her path to the Olympics -- and the exceptional cheer and optimism she's brought to bear on a year of frustrating training in an uncertain war zone -- mirrors the journey of the entire Iraqi Olympic sports movement.
The Iraqi National Olympic Committee is reinventing itself after a horrifying history under Uday Hussein, son of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein. Uday packed the leadership with cronies and was said to have personally supervised the torture of athletes who disappointed him.
Until last year, Iraqi soccer players trembled at the prospect of having their feet caned if they lost at a major tournament. The judo champion who will carry the Iraqi flag at the opening ceremony in Athens -- and his coach -- spent time in Uday's private dungeons after performing below expectation.
Hikmat is part of the new world of Olympic sports in Iraq, which couldn't be more different from the dark and forbidding empire Uday built from the mid-1980s until the war.
"I get more from running than I give to it," she said, seated on a cot in a corner of her family's house that doubles as living room and bedroom. "Who wouldn't love to represent their country?"
She has persevered in a training regime interrupted even last week by shootouts in her neighborhood, university entrance exams, and disappointing waits for visas to train abroad this summer.
"At this point I'm sometimes so fed up that I almost don't want to go to Athens anymore," she said last week after her track and field teammates accidentally left her behind when they departed for a two-week training camp in Jordan.
"But then I remember, I don't want to represent just myself," she said. "Someone who represents only herself has accomplished nothing. I want to represent my country."
Despite pressure from peers who think she's not ladylike, or is even un-Islamic for competing as an athlete, Hikmat is happiest at the track, where almost all her training partners are teenage boys who appear to admire her.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Well, the first name that comes to mind would be Mikey Moore.
I saw this story on tv. I think the young female athlete is to be congratulated, cheered, and respected. Let's hope her countrymen feel the same way.
Here! Here! I know I'll be watching her in the Olympics.
ok, is there anyway to actively support her? the fact that i wont be watching the olympics from Athens, its hard to show any support from my rec room, i suppose my dog and i can do the wave, but she isnt very good at it, nope not good at all.
Athens could be more dangerous than Baghdad.
Just throw everything you have into yet, Ala'a Hikmat. Your being there is a victory.
Then again, if she did succeed (athletically or financially) only two things could happen. Either she heads to another country of she is... (not pretty).
Sorry, I don't recall where I saw her on tv. She's a tiny, ill-equipped little girl, up against horrible odds. But I have no clue where to reach her with any kind of support. Perhaps your local tv station will know about her. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if our troops in Iraq were giving her coaching and financial assistance.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.