Sad News for Iraqi Olympic Hopefuls

Per Voices of Iraq, the International Olympic Committee has decided today not to allow Iraq to participate in the 2008 games due to "the Iraqi government's ongoing interference in the affairs of the executive board of the Iraqi National Olympic Committee (NOC)." In its letter to acting secretary general of the Iraqi cabinet the IOC said:

This means that Iraq will not take part in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Iraqi sportsmen will not be able to participate in the competitions. As a result, the invitations issued by the trilateral committee to Iraqi sportsmen during qualifiers have been withdrawn and given to other national Olympic committees.

Watch this Journeyman Picture about some of the athletes facing disappointment today