Games organisers sympathise with Iraqis

Beijing organisers expressed sympathy for Iraqi athletes yesterday after the suspension of the country's National Olympic Committee ruled them out of next month's Olympics. The Iraqi government disbanded the NOC in May because of a dispute over how it...

Beijing organisers expressed sympathy for Iraqi athletes yesterday after the suspension of the country's National Olympic Committee ruled them out of next month's Olympics.

The Iraqi government disbanded the NOC in May because of a dispute over how it had been assembled.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) set a deadline for its reinstatement but the government did not back down and the ban was confirmed on Thursday.

"We have noticed the relative regulations concerning the Iraq issue," Sun Weide, spokesman for the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), said.

"It is a decision made by the IOC according to relative regulations. BOCOG feels sorry for the Iraqi athletes."

At least seven Iraqi athletes, two rowers, a weightlifter, a sprinter, a discus thrower, a judoka and an archer had earned places in Beijing.

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