ATHENS, June 4 (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday it provisionally suspended the Iraqi National Olympic Committee because of government interference, putting Iraq’s presence at the Beijing Games at risk.
“The (IOC) executive board decided today to provisionally suspend the Iraqi National Olympic Committee as a consequence of the on-going political interference by the government within the sports movement in Iraq,” the IOC said in a statement.
The executive board started its three-day meeting in Athens on Wednesday.
“This culminated two weeks ago in the Iraqi Council of Ministers dismissing the NOC and its member federations and appointing an interim committee chaired by the Minister of Sport, a clear breach of the NOC’s autonomy.”
The Iraqi government had said the committee was illegitimate because it lacked a quorum and had failed to hold new elections.
The IOC, which had urged the government last week to reinstate the old NOC, said it would invite government authorities for talks to find a solution.
“The IOC will continue to look for ways to help Iraqi athletes, although the situation created by the Iraqi government authorities makes the task very difficult,” the IOC said.
It said it did not recognise the “interim committee” and only recognised the disbanded NOC whose office bearers “were legitimately elected.”
It was not immediately clear when the discussions would be held and how the small Iraqi team preparing for the Beijing Games would be affected by the decision.
The Beijing Games open on Aug. 8 and Iraq planned to send a small team despite violence that has killed more than 100 athletes in the country since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
(Reporting by Barney Spender and Karolos Grohmann; Editing by John Mehaffey and Justin Palmer)
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/new...ters&type=lgns
slightly stunned.....
Threaded Mode
