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Last-ditch Iraq talks on IOC ban IOC offers last chance for Iraq
(about 1 hour later)
An Iraqi delegation has travelled to Geneva for talks with the International Olympic Committee aimed at reinstating athletes banned from the Beijing games. There is a slim chance that Iraqi athletes could take part in the Beijing games, the International Olympic Committee has said.
The seven-strong Iraqi team was barred on Thursday because their government had replaced the country's Olympic committee with its own appointees. The IOC has banned Iraq from taking part because the government replaced the country's Olympic committee with its own appointees.
An IOC spokesman said there still was a slight hope for them to be reinstated if the government stopped interfering. But if Iraq reverses the decision, it could yet meet Wednesday's registration deadline for athletics events.
However, the Iraqi minister of sport has said the decision is irreversible. Iraqi officials have indicated they are not prepared to back down on the issue.
The government had appointed a new committee in May because the previous one was corrupt and had not been functioning properly, he said. An adviser for the Ministry of Youth and Sport, Basil Abdul Mahdi, said there would be "no retreat" over May's decision to replace the Olympic Committee.
The government said the previous committee was corrupt and had not been functioning properly.
Under the IOC charter, all committees must be free of political influence.Under the IOC charter, all committees must be free of political influence.
'Letters exchanged' Iraq's seven-strong team was banned from the Games on Thursday, but the IOC has said there is still a chance that two athletes could take part, if the government reinstates the committee.
A spokesman for the Iraqi national Olympic committee said "high-level" talks had begun on Friday with IOC officials and international mediators at the organisation's headquarters in Geneva. An IOC spokeswoman, Emmanuelle Moreau, said the deadline for finalising athletics competitors is Wednesday. It means Iraq still has the chance to send its discus thrower and sprinter to the Games.
Provided that the Iraqi government stops interfering, the suspension on the Iraqi Olympic committee could be lifted IOC spokeswoman in Geneva "We still have the hope the Iraqi flag will fly at the opening ceremony in Beijing," Jazair al-Sahlani told the Associated Press. However, the door remained closed to the other five team members, as registration deadlines for archery, judo, rowing and weightlifting had already passed, the IOC spokeswoman said.
Iraqi officials have reportedly been encouraging the athletes who are hoping to take part in the games to keep up their training. In a statement issued on Thursday, the IOC said it was "disappointed they have been so ill-served by their own government's actions".
"There is a slight hope that remains," an IOC spokeswoman in Geneva told the AFP news agency. It added that the Iraqi government had previously invited Iraq to come to its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland to discuss solutions, but Iraq had failed to respond "positively".
"The dateline for athletes is open until the end of July. Provided that the Iraqi government stops interfering, the suspension on the Iraqi Olympic committee could be lifted." Iraq's Olympic hopefuls have expressed disappointment at the ban.
But the Iraqi minister for sport, who now heads the national Olympic committee, said on Thursday that the two sides had exchanged over a dozen letters, and that the government's decision to take over the committee was irreversible. "I was so depressed after I got the news that we would be deprived from participating in the Olympic games in Beijing 2008," said Hamzah Hussein, 32, one of two rowers who had hoped to head to China.
The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says it is therefore not clear what exactly the Iraqi delegation will be saying that is new and could change the situation. "It seems that we are paying the price for the current conflict in the Iraqi sport scene."
But officials have said that fresh, independent elections will be held for the Olympic committee under IOC supervision soon after the Beijing games are over.
Two rowers, a weightlifter, a sprinter, a discus thrower, a judoka and an archer were in the frame for the games, which start on 8 August.