Olympic officials Bar Iraq From Beijing Games
The International Olympic Committee says the seven-member team cannot compete next month because the Iraqi government replaced the country’s Olympic panel with a new body.
BAGHDAD — Four years after its athletes received a huge ovation at the first Olympics after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq was told Thursday that its seven-member team would not be allowed to compete in Beijing because of a dispute with the International Olympic Committee.
Olympic officials informed Iraq that it was barring the team because the government had dismissed the country’s Olympic committee and appointed a new body chaired by its youth and sports minister.
 ”I am deeply saddened for the Iraqi athletes who did nothing wrong,” said Anita DeFrantz, the senior American member of the IOC. “It is hard to understand how a government in today’s world could purposely deny them their opportunity by fiat.”
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