Swimming World Magazine Joins International Community in Condemning Kidnapping

By Jason Marsteller

PHOENIX, Ariz., July 22. ACCORDING to reports by the Associated Press, gunmen kidnapped the chairman of Iraq’s Olympic committee and at least 30 others July 15 in a brazen daylight raid on a sports conference in the heart of Baghdad. Armed clashes erupted elsewhere across the capital.

At about 1:30 p.m., gunmen in about a dozen vehicles pulled up outside the meeting of the Iraqi National Olympic Committee, police and witnesses said. They entered the conference center, blindfolded and handcuffed participants and bodyguards, hustled them into the vehicles, and sped away.

Those kidnapped included Ahmed al-Hijiya, chairman of the Olympic Committee, and the presidents of the taekwondo and boxing federations, according to police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud. The bodies of two of the bodyguards were found later, dumped along a street.

The International Olympic Committee demanded their immediate release.

"The IOC was informed today that the president and secretary general of the National Olympic Committee of Iraq as well as the presidents of the Iraqi Boxing and Taekwondo federations have been kidnapped in Baghdad," it said in a statement.

"The IOC strongly condemns these acts and calls for the immediate release of the hostages. The IOC is in contact with the National Olympic Committee of Iraq and is monitoring the situation closely."

Swimming World Magazine joins the IOC in condemning these actions, as members of the sporting community continue to be drawn into political battles throughout the globe. As stated in the upcoming August edition of Swimming World Magazine by Editorial Board member and College Swimming Coaches Association of America Executive Director Phil Whitten in the Voice of the Sport, we also call for a continued effort to separate politics from the world of sport.

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