The Special Olympics Iraq floor hockey team acknowledges its supporters at the 2005 World Winter Games. (Photo by Mamoru Gomi/PHOTO KISHIMOTO)
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Sunni, Shiite, Kurd: “We are all brothers.”
Sports, and the Olympic Games in particular, have a rich history of transcending global politics. In Berlin in 1936, in the shadow of Nazi swastikas, German Luz Long helped Jesse Owens of the United States, an African-American. In 1992, in Barcelona, Ethiopian Derartu Tulu, the first black African woman to earn an Olympic medal, and Elana Meyer, a white South African, ran hand in hand for a victory lap. Eight years later in Sydney, North and South Korea marched as one team in the Opening Ceremony.
Not to be outdone, Special Olympics has its own such tradition. From the outset of its involvement in the movement in 1978, Ireland always has entered an all-Ireland team, with athletes from both north and south. Here in Nagano, Japan, at the 2005 World Winter Games, the delegation representing Iraq has brought together members from the two Muslim sects – Sunni and Shiite – as well as the Kurdish ethnic minority. “We all are brothers,” explains Bassem Ahmed Mohammed, the assistant Head of Delegation and a Shiite.
That brotherhood clearly was in evidence – not only among the Iraqis, but across country borders as well. Fawzi Mustafa Athman, the delegation head and a Kurd, praised Ahmed Mohammed Ismail, the Sunni head coach of the floor hockey team participating in these World Games. Ismail, in fact, coached Athman when he competed for Iraq in the 2000 Paralympics in one of the wheelchair divisions in discus. With a disability to his left foot and a noticeable limp, Athman struggles walking. Sami Mohamed Almuntaser, a Special Olympics athlete from Yemen, kindly offered support, and the pair walked hand in hand through the White Ring arena. Almuntaser was “loaned” to Iraq for the World Games, as the team from Baghdad arrived in Nagano one shy of a full complement of players following the tragic death of one of its members just a week prior to the team’s departure for the Games.
According to team representatives, the player was killed traveling from practice. A second teammate had been killed three months earlier, reportedly after being mistaken for a terrorist. In honor of their fallen brothers, the team dedicated its performance in Nagano to their memory.
In addition to deep emotional scars, the casualties of war are visible on the face of 14-year-old Rabah Noori Shhaet, who was injured by an explosion near his family’s home in 2003 while bringing in groceries. The explosion severely damaged Shhaet’s left ear. And yet he and his teammates smile. They smile while signing autographs for the throngs of Japanese schoolchildren in attendance; they smile while acknowledging the 29 citizens of Azumi Village who hosted the team for four days prior to competition and then traveled together to Nagano to cheer on the young men who never before had seen snow; they smile even in defeat. After all, these athletes live through war back home and that perspective, along with worry for their families’ safety, never strays from their minds.
The effects of the war extend to the entire Special Olympics Iraq Program. To prepare for the Games, the team “stole” practice time when possible. Provided no fighting was taking place, the team would gather three days a week for the past six months at the Physical Education College at the University of Baghdad, where Ismail works as a professor. Due to a lack of equipment, broomsticks substituted for regulation floor hockey sticks.
The government had supported Special Olympics with equipment and training/practice facilities, but such backing ended when the war began. Assistance now comes from the Iraqi Olympic Committee, along with donations from athletes’ families and Special Olympics employees. In fact, in support of the team’s travel to Nagano, the Iraqi Olympic Committee provided 10 airline tickets; Athman, Mohammed and Ismail not only paid for their own airfare, but they also provided pocket money for the team and ground transportation to and accommodations in Amman, Jordan.
Still other complications existed. Numerous checkpoints and inspections make the roughly 600-mile distance a 20-hour trip. Then, due to the Shiite Festival of Ashura, the border between countries was closed for days, thereby requiring the team to leave Baghdad early and stay in Amman for a full week before flying to Japan. While such difficulties might overwhelm some, the team from Iraq did not seem fazed in the least. “The team can adjust to anything,” said Athman. “They have gone through war.”
On its way home, the team again will stay in Amman – this time for only a few days to arrange transportation. As the team members will be carrying with them winter clothing donated by the people of Azumi Village, special silk bags presented as gifts, along with a lifetime of memories – from their first time sledding to participating in the making of soba noodles – it is clear a larger vehicle will be required.
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