Iraqi team going to Olympics after all

[ghostjmf]

Decision to barr team because of governmental interference in something or other has been reversed.

General consensus is that this is a good thing; don't take politics out on the athletes, etc.

source: NPR

[earendel]

Decision to barr team because of governmental interference in something or other has been reversed.

General consensus is that this is a good thing; don't take politics out on the athletes, etc.

source: NPR

IIRC there are only two Iraqi athletes involved, both in track and field. But it's a good thing that they get to go.

[andrewjackson]

I thought it was ridiculous, hypocritical, and completely typical of the IOC.

The IOC was banning the Iraqi Olympic team because there was too much interference by the government in the Iraqi Olympic Committee. But the IOC had no problem allowing the Iraqi Olympic team to participate when Uday Hussein was running the Iraqi Olympic Committee. He was imprisoning, torturing, and even executing athletes but that was perfectly fine for the IOC because there was no government interference in the local Olympic committee.

Half the Olympic committees around the world are run by cronies of the local governments but that's perfectly fine as long as there is no public dissent. And, of course, there wouldn't be in those places since the government media is the media.

The IOC is like the NCAA but much, much worse in their insistence on some picky little rules while turning a blind eye to the felonies being committed by their members.