Iraqi NOC Elections Hit by Delays

Iraq athletes participated at the Beijing Olympics on the condition that elections to elect new leadership for the NOC were held no later than November. (Getty Images)(ATR) Three months after the IOC deadline for the transparent and fair election of a new, independent Iraqi national Olympic committee, there are few signs of the NOC forming any time soon.

An Iraqi source tells Around the Rings that the country's government is delaying NOC elections and claims the IOC is not doing enough to speed up the process.

“The IOC is going along with the process of elections as run by the government and the process is too slow,” said the source from a national sports federation. “We are way behind the road map for the elections agreed on by the IOC and the Iraqi government and I expect it to drag a few more months,” he said.

“This is very unfortunate because it is affecting the planning for and participation of our national federations in Asian and Olympic events, plus many other international activities.”

NOC elections are scheduled to take place after the national sports federations elections that are currently underway are completed. But ATR understands that only half of the national sports federations have conducted their elections.

“No one knows when the general assembly of NOCI will be completed and when the executive board of NOCI will be elected,” the Iraqi source added.

The IOC told ATR it was aware of national federations elections taking place in Iraq but said it did not have a timeline for the NOC elections.

Sports leaders at the national federations fear delays in the NOC elections are jeopardising the preparations and even participation of athletes in upcoming regional multisport events, including the Asian Martial Arts Games in April in Bangkok and the first Asian Youth Games in Singapore in June.

Athlete preparations for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games are also being affected.

The IOC originally called for elections to elect new leadership for Iraq’s national sports federations, followed by a vote for new NOC leaders, no later than the end of November. It was a condition of the IOC lifting the ban on Iraqi athletes competing in the Beijing Olympics on the eve of the Games after brokering an agreement with the country's government to establish an independent NOC.

The IOC had suspended the Iraq NOC last June after the government disbanded the committee leadership and installed its own officials from the Ministry for Youth and Sport.

A small group of athletes paraded with team officials under the Iraqi flag in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games.

It was the second team Iraq had sent to the Olympics following the demise of Saddam Hussein and his son Uday Hussein, who was the leader of the NOC. The IOC suspended that NOC in 2003. It was re-formed in early 2004, in time to allow Iraq to compete at the Athens Games.

Iraqi sport has since been hit by outbreaks of sectarian violence, with more than 100 athletes and officials murdered or kidnapped.

Still officially missing are Ahmed Al Samarrai, the first president of the NOC since it was re-formed in 2004, and Ammar Jabbar, the secretary general. Both were kidnapped at gunpoint along with some two dozen other sport officials at a meeting in July 2006. A few were released but others have not been seen since.

With reporting from Mark Bisson.

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