IOC lifts Iraq Olympic ban

By Karolos Grohmann

ATHENS (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee on Tuesday allowed Iraq to send a two-athlete team to next month's Beijing Games in a last-minute deal ending a dispute with the Iraqi government, the IOC said.

Iraq were banned last week after the government disbanded the country's National Olympic Committee (NOC), a move that had angered the IOC.

Iraqi officials met with IOC officials in Lausanne earlier on Tuesday in a desperate effort to iron out differences and send a team consisting only of two track and field athletes to the Games.

"I commend the government of Iraq for reaching an agreement that serves the long-term interest of Iraqi athletes," IOC President Jacques Rogge said in a statement. "We have said all along that we want to see Iraqi athletes in Beijing."

The IOC said it was agreed Iraq could send a team to Beijing but the NOC must hold new elections, monitored by the IOC.

"The agreement also calls for the transparent and fair election of a new, independent Iraqi National Olympic Committee, no later than the end of November 2008," the IOC statement said.

The government of Iraq disbanded the NOC in May because of a dispute over how it had been assembled. The IOC gave Iraq a deadline to reinstate the committee but the government had refused to back down.

Iraq had initially planned to send a small team despite violence that has killed more than 100 athletes in the country since the 2003 United States-led invasion.

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

But the IOC said all but Iraq's athletics spots had been redistributed as deadlines had passed.

"As a result, the slots for five Iraqi athletes have been redistributed, but two Iraqi athletics competitors will have the opportunity to compete in Beijing," the IOC said.

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, Editing by Rex Gowar)