IOC boss asks sports officials be freed in Iraq

Rogge pleads to have head of Olympic Committee, 30 others released

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updated 2:06 p.m. ET July 29, 2006

ROME - The president of the International Olympic Committee appealed for the release of sports officials kidnapped in Iraq earlier this month.

Jacques Rogge said Saturday that his organization was following the situation closely through its contacts in the Iraqi government.

“We pray that our friends be freed as soon as possible,” Rogge said at a meeting of the European Olympic Committees.

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On July 15, unknown gunmen kidnapped the chairman of Iraq’s Olympic Committee and at least 30 other officials, including the presidents of the taekwondo and boxing federations, in a brazen daylight raid on a sports conference in the heart of Baghdad.

The abduction came after Iraq’s national wrestling coach was killed in Baghdad.

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Rogge expressed worry for the “extremely difficult conditions” in which athletes in the country train and live. He praised a recent deal that would help Iraqi athletes train abroad ahead of December’s Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Rogge also addressed the fighting in the Middle East, saying that the IOC would support future efforts to rebuild damaged infrastructure in Lebanon and help in the training of the country’s athletes.