Documenting the Olympic Dreams
of Iraq’s Rowers
Haider Nozad, an Iraqi oarsman, wants to go
back to the Olympics.
Last time, in 2008, he and his rowing partner,
Hamza Hussein Jebur, almost did not make it because of politics. This time, they
may not qualify.
Mr. Nozad and Mr. Jebur failed to do so at the
world championships last year. The rowers, who once trained on the brown waters
of Baghdad’s Tigris River when it was a macabre dumping ground, will have
another chance later this month at races in South Korea.
Tracking the improbable story of these rowers
and a third, Ahmed Abdul Salam, as they work to make the 2012 Summer Olympics
have been two French filmmakers, Anne-Sophie Le Mauff and Véronique Mauduy. In
the last few days, the filmmakers have been releasing new episodes from their
French-language production, “Bagdad Galère,” including one, above, filmed at a
regatta in Baghdad last year.
The videos open a window onto the challenges
still faced by Iraq’s athletes, even as years of war give way to a tense period
of relative calm. According to The Associated Press, Iraq’s sports institutions
are underfinanced, and their officials often stand accused of sectarian bias and
corruption.
That background gives the short videos a
feeling of “Cool Runnings” with a serious geopolitical edge.
In the past, Mr. Nozad bumped bodies with his
oars as he trained up and down a constricted stretch of the river, so as not to
pass to close to jittery guards around government buildings. Now, things are a
little better. “The security is still difficult, but it is safer now to move
than before and we get better results, because I train more,” he told The A.P.
this year.
The French filmmakers, who are financing their
project through a combination of small donations and corporate sponsorship, have
drawn attention to their work in France, where several news organizations,
including the magazine Nouvel Observateur and the news site Rue89, have been
posting updates, as well as in Britain, where the 2012 Games will begin in a few
months, and in the United States.
Members of the Iraqi team, along with the film
crew, traveled to the United States to train in 2010. As Sports Illustrated
wrote at the time:
The trip to the States came to fruition after Bill Engeman and Bruce Smith, two coaches on this side of the pond, traveled to Iraq to see the rowers there. Told that it would not be safe for them to conduct a clinic on the Tigris River, they instead went to a more remote training site in the Kurdish sector of the country on Lake Dokan that was considered more secure and less dangerous. On that trip, they arranged the Iraqis’ journey to Princeton. Smith, a coach from Boston-based Community Rowing, was among those on the trip. “I’m just a stupid rowing coach,” he says, “but when you consider what our servicemen and women are doing over there, the least we could do is show a fraction of the courage that they show every day in order to generate some goodwill.”
The trip attracted media attention,
transforming the rowers into mini-celebrities and, in the process, turning off
their Iraqi national rowing chief, Abdul Salam, who deemed all the coverage bad
for training. (Mr. Salam is the father of Ahmed, one of the rowers being
profiled by the filmmakers.)
Switching coaches may have had an effect on the athletes, but whether they qualify for the London Games this summer will ultimately depend on the athletes’ determination. Mr. Nozad recently started a family, and Mr. Jebur, at 35, is getting old to compete in the grueling sport.
Switching coaches may have had an effect on the athletes, but whether they qualify for the London Games this summer will ultimately depend on the athletes’ determination. Mr. Nozad recently started a family, and Mr. Jebur, at 35, is getting old to compete in the grueling sport.
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