BAGHDAD — For the four Iraqi athletes who have made it to
Tokyo, there
is no realistic talk of medals. Having overcome war, politics and pandemic,
their dream is simply to participate.
اضافة اعلان
With state financial support cut off by political infighting for most of the
run-up to the Games and their locked-down foreign coaches unable to offer more
than virtual advice, Iraq's small squad of Olympians got there almost entirely
by their own efforts.
Right up to November of last year, when a new national Olympic chief was
elected, watched over by the International Olympic Committee by video link,
Iraq's very participation in the Games was in doubt.
A nearly two-year battle for control of the National Olympic Committee's $25
million budget had seen Iraq ostracized by the
IOC and its athletes deprived of
the monthly stipends they rely on to prepare for competitions.
But despite the loss of state financial support and the difficulties of
travelling to qualifying events during the coronavirus pandemic, two Iraqi
hopefuls managed to qualify for Tokyo.
Training by email
Rower Mohammed Ryadh, 27, will take part in the men's single sculls for the
second Games in a row.
But he has no illusions about his medal chances after his French coach of
the past nine years, Vincent Tassery, was prevented by restrictions linked to
the pandemic from travelling to Baghdad for the rower's training sessions on
the Tigris.
"I have a French trainer, and because of
COVID-19, he hasn't been able
to come to Iraq, so he sends me instructions by e-mail that I have to work on
by myself," Ryadh told AFP at his makeshift training base on the riverbank.
"So, the goal is just to take part in the Olympic Games. We both know
it's not worth even thinking about a medal," the rower admitted.
To date, Iraq has won just a single Olympic medal — a silver for weightlifting
in Rome in 1960 — but it is not for want of trying.
At the 2016 Rio Games a total of 21 Iraqi athletes competed in an array of
disciplines including football, judo, boxing and athletics as well as rowing.
But this year just one other Iraqi apart from Ryadh qualified as of right —
sprinter Dana Hussein, 35, for the women's 200m.
Hussein left it to mid-June to claim her berth with a qualifying time of
22.51 seconds as she took gold in the pan-Arab athletics championship in
Tunis.
Two other Iraqis were handed wildcard slots after coming close to their
qualifying scores — 400m specialist Taha Hussein and shooter Fatima Abbas.
The four makes up Iraq's smallest squad of Olympians since its Games in
London in 1948.
Uday's long shadow
Iraq's Olympians were all children when Saddam Hussein's long years in power
came to an end in the US-led invasion of 2003.
But the country's Olympic movement is only now recovering from the brutal
two-decade grip of the dictator's sadistic eldest son Uday who allegedly tortured
athletes he deemed to have underperformed.
The committee Uday headed was dissolved by the US-led occupation authority
after the invasion along with all of the other instruments of Saddam's rule.
But the manner of its dissolution, and the uncomfortable fact that Saddam's
Iraq took part in multiple Olympics before the dictator's overthrow, left a
question mark over the legitimacy of the body that replaced it.
That cleared the way for the sports ministry to launch a campaign to oust it
in February 2019, leaving athletes in financial limbo as the rump committee
battled for control with a commission appointed by the ministry.
A new committee was finally set up last year which held fresh elections to
the IOC's satisfaction in November and Iraq returned to the Olympic fold.
But little of the state funding filters down to help individual athletes
cover the travel and training costs involved in qualifying.
"What's sad is that you go to these qualifying events and our
authorities really don't care," sprinter Dana Hussein told AFP.
"It's taken me 18 months of effort to book my place in Tokyo. I myself
had to pay many of the costs of getting training abroad because the athletics
federation has very limited means."
Hussein called for the Iraqi authorities to draw up a long-term plan for the
investment in sports infrastructure the country was deprived of during decades
of war and international sanctions.
"We need a long-term roadmap — money, equipment and a modern sports
infrastructure," she said.
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