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.