By Zhou Qing'an

Iraq has finally qualified at the last moment to participate in the 29th Olympic Games to be held in Beijing. Sports can always ignite a glimmer of hope for a nation and its people despite its lack of any major role.

Last Tuesday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) reached an agreement with the Iraqi government, allowing the Iraqi Olympic delegation to compete in the Beijing Olympics. The move is undoubtedly a piece of good news to all people in the world at a time when preparation for the Games has entered its final phase.

When the ban on Iraq participating in the Beijing Olympics was announced, the most unforgettable image was of Dana Hussain, a sprinter from the country, bursting into crying with her face covered with two hands. "Who guarantees I can live through 2012?" she sobbed out when her coach sought to console the saddened 21-year-old sprinter with the words "you still can wait to compete in the 2012 Olympics".

The tears of Dana were shed not only for herself, but more for all Iraqis. The unrestrained joy of Iraqis in celebrating the Iraqi men's soccer team's advancement into a semifinal in the last Olympics may make one understand the Iraqis' passion for sports.

People living in a peaceful environment cannot possibly understand the desperation and hope of their counterparts living constantly amidst unending warfare and terrorist attacks. Since the Gulf War and the US-led invasion in 2003, Iraq's national strength has been dented a lot and the country has gradually lost its once-strong athletic muscle, particularly in Asia. The dissolution of the national Olympic committee by the Iraqi government in May dealt another big blow to the country's already weakened competence in sport. That was seemingly testified by the fact that only two track and field athletes would represent their motherland to participate in the Beijing Olympics although the qualification for Iraq's sports contingent was restored by the IOC.

Iraq's presence in the world's largest sports gala does not embody its sport strength, but embodies the Olympic spirit of participation. The focal point of the latest dispute between the IOC and the Iraqi government was the issue of independence of the country's national Olympic committee. Behind this issue is in fact the long-held principle in the history of Olympics that sports exist independent of politics. The IOC cited Article 28 of the Olympic Charter, which stipulates that no political interference is allowed in Olympics, as the ground for its recent ban on Iraq's delegation. No warfare or political strife in a country can strip its people of the equal right to participate in the Olympics, the article says.

In fact, there were always some regrettable things or others in almost every previous Olympics. Former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan were also once kept out of the door of the Olympics after the end of the Cold War. Due to political factors, athletes of the two countries were deprived of their opportunity to performing before their counterparts from all over the world and of a platform for strengthening communications and studies with them.

An international organization is not an organ entitled to force one person or one nation to participate in international activities. But Olympics is to some degree a kind of international stage that offers the chance for dialogues among varied civilizations and contacts among multiple values. Without such dialogues and contacts, a country would lose an opportunity to integrate itself into the international society.

Over the past decades, Iraq has already lost too many of such chances and much of its dignity in the international society. Being disqualified to participate in the Beijing Olympics would have been not only a great regret for Iraq and its people, but also a serious setback to its dignity and the confidence of the international society in rebuilding the war-torn Middle East country.

An Olympics without Iraq is incomplete, just like a world without Iraq. Olympics always adds a certain hope to a participating person and country. Participating in a fair and just sporting race held in a broad and tolerant environment would give participants of different nationalities real joy and a sense of equality.

The author is a professor with the School of Journalism and Communication under Tsinghua University

(China Daily August 4, 2008)