Iraq (IRQ)

Overview

NOCNational Olympic Committee of Iraq
Flagbearers36

Participants

Olympic Games 195
Youth Olympic Games 23

Description

Iraq formed its National Olympic Committee (NOC) in 1948, which was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 27 July of the same year, at the IOC session in London. It also made its first Olympic appearance in that year. It then did not compete until the Roma Olympics of 1960. The nation missed the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, but has competed continuously since, including the 1984 Olympic Games. Iraq has never competed at the Olympic Winter Games.

One Iraqi athlete has won an Olympic medal, that being a bronze medal by Abdul Wahid Aziz in lightweight weightlifting in 1960. Perhaps the greatest performance by Iraqi Olympic athletes occurred at the 2004 Olympic Games. Shortly after their country was invaded and fought a war, resulting in the ouster of President Saddam Hussein, Iraqi qualified a football (soccer) team for Athens. The team was known to have suffered torture in recent years at the orders of Oudaï Hussein, president of the Iraqi NOC and son of Saddam, whenever they did not perform well, which caused the NOC to be briefly suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). But at Athina, the Iraqi football team went to the semi-finals, and narrowly lost out on a medal, finishing fourth.

On 15 July 2006 the NOC president Ahmad Al Samarrai, a Sunni, was among others who have been kidnapped in the centre of Baghdad and disappeared without a trace. He was replaced by Mustapha Bashar, a Kurd. In 2008 Iraq was suspended by the IOC from competing at the Beijing Olympics, but the ban was lifted later when Iraq promised to hold free elections for its NOC under international observation.

Participations by edition

Olympic Games

Edition As Men Women Total
1948 Summer Olympics Iraq 11 0 11 Results
1960 Summer Olympics Iraq 21 0 21 Results
1964 Summer Olympics Iraq 13 0 13 Results
1968 Summer Olympics Iraq 3 0 3 Results
1980 Summer Olympics Iraq 43 0 43 Results
1984 Summer Olympics Iraq 23 0 23 Results
1988 Summer Olympics Iraq 27 0 27 Results
1992 Summer Olympics Iraq 8 0 8 Results
1996 Summer Olympics Iraq 3 0 3 Results
2000 Summer Olympics Iraq 2 2 4 Results
2004 Summer Olympics Iraq 23 1 24 Results
2008 Summer Olympics Iraq 3 1 4 Results
2012 Summer Olympics Iraq 5 3 8 Results
2016 Summer Olympics Iraq 20 0 20 Results
2020 Summer Olympics Iraq 2 1 3 Results

Youth Olympic Games

Edition As Men Women Total
2010 Summer Youth Olympics Iraq 3 1 4 Results
2014 Summer Youth Olympics Iraq 4 1 5 Results
2018 Summer Youth Olympics Iraq 12 2 14 Results

Participations by discipline

Olympic Games

Discipline (Sport) Men Women Total
Archery 0 1 1 Results
Athletics 29 3 32 Results
Basketball (Basketball) 10 0 10 Results
Boxing 19 0 19 Results
Cycling Road (Cycling) 3 0 3 Results
Football (Football) 74 0 74 Results
Judo 2 0 2 Results
Rowing 3 0 3 Results
Shooting 1 2 3 Results
Swimming (Aquatics) 3 1 4 Results
Table Tennis 1 0 1 Results
Taekwondo 1 0 1 Results
Weightlifting 25 0 25 Results
Wrestling 18 0 18 Results

Youth Olympic Games

Discipline (Sport) Men Women Total
Artistic Gymnastics (Gymnastics) 0 1 1 Results
Athletics 3 0 3 Results
Equestrian Jumping (Equestrian) 0 1 1 Results
Fencing 2 1 3 Results
Futsal (Football) 10 0 10 Results
Shooting 0 1 1 Results
Swimming (Aquatics) 1 0 1 Results
Weightlifting 2 0 2 Results
Wrestling 1 0 1 Results

Medals by Games

Edition Competition Type Gold Silver Bronze Total
1960 Summer Olympics Olympic Games 0 0 1 1
2014 Summer Youth Olympics Youth Olympic Games 0 0 1 1

Medals by sport

Olympic Games

Sport Gold Silver Bronze Total
Weightlifting 0 0 1 1

Youth Olympic Games

Sport Gold Silver Bronze Total
Athletics 0 0 1 1

Most successful competitors

Includes medals won as part of mixed teams.

Olympic Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total
Abdul Wahid Aziz IRQ 0 0 1 1

Youth Olympic Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total
Muntadher Faleh Abdulwahid IRQ 0 0 1 1