U.S. Department of State and U.S. Olympic Committee to Send Iraqi Athletes to the Titan Games, June 18-20

The U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) will send Iraqi athletes to the 2004 Titan Games, June 18-20, in Atlanta, Georgia, and will host their training in the United States in preparation for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

“This collaborative effort will help ensure that the Iraqi athletes are participants, and not just spectators, for the historic Athens Olympic Games. The Iraqi athletes and teams have embraced the democratic process through numerous elections to reestablish their Olympic Committee and return pride to the Iraqi people,” said Patricia S. Harrison, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Working with the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Solidarity Department, the USOC and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) will coordinate participation in the Titan Games and training programs for two Iraqi wrestlers and a coach, one Iraqi boxer and a coach, and an Iraqi Paralympic fencer and a coach. The USOC will provide training for wrestlers Ahmed J. Jasim and Ahamad N. Weali in Colorado Springs, Colorado, boxer Najah S. Ali in Marquette, Michigan, and Paralympic fencer Khalid Karem Khedir at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Titan Games — a mini-sports festival featuring the Olympic sports of boxing, fencing, judo, shot put, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling — will include 200 athletes representing the United States, Canada, China, Colombia, Georgia, Germany, Iraq, Korea, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Spain. The event represents the final competition on their Road to Athens.

The 2004 Titan Games participation and training will be the third joint international sports initiative undertaken by the USOC, ECA, and IOC Solidarity. The groups supported a similar program for Iraqi wrestlers earlier this spring and last July brought the Iraqi archery team to New York to participate in the World Archery Championships.

The relationship between the USOC and ECA emanated from a June, 2003 summit in Kuwait City where leaders of the U.S. government, USOC, IOC, and the Olympic Council of Asia met to discuss strategies for future support for Iraqi athletes in their attempt to qualify and participate at the Athens Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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