Discus thrower's Olympic dreams are crushed

[babylonsister]

Discus thrower's Olympic dreams are crushed


By Nicholas Spangler and Sahar Issa | McClatchy Newspapers



BAGHDAD — Haider Nasir knew the news was coming but it still landed like a punch to the gut.

The Olympic delegation has been barred from competing, said Dr. Talib Faisal, the head of the interim Iraqi Track and Field Federation. He is the same man who'd told Nasir in February that Nasir was going to throw the discus in the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Iraq's participation had been in doubt since June, when the International Olympic Committee suspended the Iraqi National Olympic Committee for government interference. The Iraqi government in turn said its NOC was not fulfilling its duties.

Meanwhile, for the athletes, registration for most events closed Wednesday. Barring a miracle, no Iraqi will compete at Beijing.

"Keep training as if you're going to go to the Olympics," Faisal said Wednesday when word of the final suspension came. Nasir called his coach, Saad Jasim, who had the same message: "The progress of sport does not come to a halt. It won't do to stop training and wait for their decision or to stop training altogether through desperation."

But Nasir did not sleep that night, or the night after.

"It was my dream to represent Iraq," Nasir said Friday, from his home in Najaf. "I dreamed of lifting the flag."

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/45647.html

[WinkyDink]

1. THIS, when the Games are being held in CHINA?! Disgusting.

[catgirl]

6. .

[Muttocracy]

2. This is the kind of thing that keeps me from getting excited about the Olympics

Is it too late for some other country to "adopt" these athletes? They're being punished for beaucratic squabbles. :(

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Sad for all those who have put so much time and energy..and hope into this.

[gatorboy]

4. Another important segment of the story.

But desire and natural talent alone don't win Olympic medals. Nasir's competitors around the world have nutritionists to calibrate their diets, strength trainers to shape their bodies and electricity so they can train at night.

Nasir had a set of his own weights and a bramble-filled field that lacked even the concrete circle where a discus-thrower takes his stance. In today's Iraq, asking for more is futile.

"The war has affected all walks of life," said his coach, Jasim. "There are no services and no support system - very few people think that sports are a priority in a war zone, and therefore we are in a weak position to demand more attention to our needs. What we had is gone."

[Occam Bandage]

5. Well, at least Iraq's got the idiotic-bureaucracy business down.