The Iraqi delegation arrived to a roaring ovation at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games on Friday night.

Iraq sent an 11-member delegation, among which four are athletes, including two male rowers, one male discus thrower and a female sprinter.

The 21-year-old Dana Hussein, the only woman among the athletes, is the third Iraqi woman participating in the Olympic Games.

Hussein, who had survived a sniper shooting when she was training at a stadium of Baghdad University, said in Beijing, "It does not matter what we will achieve at the Games, the important thing is we are here."

Befhar Mustasa, head of the delegation and president of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, told Xinhua when they arrived in Beijing that he felt extremely proud of leading the Iraq delegation to the Beijing Olympics despite going through twists and turns.

"Our participation to the Games is a success of Iraqi people and the athletes who will gain Olympic experience," Mustasa said.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) lifted the ban on Iraq competing at the Beijing Olympics at the night of July 29 when an Iraqi government delegation and the IOC reached an agreement at a crisis meeting in the IOC's headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

In June, the IOC suspended Iraq for alleged political interference in its National Olympic Committee.

Iraq made its Olympic debut in 1948 and has participated in 11 Olympics. They snatched a bronze medal of weightlifting in 1960, which is their only Olympic medal.

The most recent success came in at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. The Iraqi soccer team made it to the semifinals, prompting celebrations throughout the war-ravaged country.

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2008)