The dream is over
A man named Abdul Wahi Aziz won a bronze medal in weightlifting for Iraq in the Rome Olympics of 1960. His was the only medal ever won by an Iraqi, a feat the war-torn country’s soccer team was trying to top — and would have with a victory over Paraguay on Tuesday.
Iraqi exiles now living in Europe showed up at Kaftanzoglio Stadium wearing their country’s flags like superhero capes, chanting “Iraq, Iraq, Iraq” to the accompaniment of drums and whistles, and cheering whenever an Iraqi player dribbled inside the Paraguayan zone. A New York City cabdriver named Ali Sebay, a native of Egypt, flew all the way to this city in northern Greece just to help lead the Iraqi fans in cheers.
In the end, there was nothing to celebrate.
Iraq won’t play Argentina for the gold medal Saturday, with the loser of that showdown guaranteed silver. Paraguay will, thanks to a 3-1 victory that served to spoil one of the more fascinating stories of these Games.
The Iraqis had become sentimental favorites, a sort of Jamaican bobsled team, but without the laughs.
“In the name of God, I think today was not our day,” Iraq coach Adnan Hamad said after his team’s loss.
The young team (their average age is 22 years) played with confidence in the opening rounds, surprising Portugal and pinning losses on Costa Rica and Australia.
They landed in Tuesday’s semifinal, but Paraguay proved too powerful, controlling the ball in the Iraqi zone for a good portion of the first half and scoring 17 minutes in off the foot of Jose Cardoza. Paraguay scored its second goal 17 minutes later on another nifty play by Cardoza when he passed the ball to himself, going around an Iraqi defender, and directed his shot past goaltender Sabri Nour.
Paraguay put the game out of reach midway through the second half by scoring another goal to make it 3-0. Farhan Razzaq’s goal for Iraq came too late to make a difference. Several Iraqi players dropped to their knees, covering their faces with their hands, when the game ended and the Paraguayans stormed the field to celebrate, dancing in a circle.
A bronze is the best they can hope for now, a bronze just like the one Aziz won in Rome 44 years ago.
“Taking into account our difficulties back home in Iraq, it would be a great achievement,” Hamad said.
•Behind Carlos Tevez’s seventh goal in five matches, Argentina beat Italy 3-0 to advance to Saturday’s gold-medal match.
Smith done for tournament
Katie Smith, expected to be a key player for the U.S. basketball team, will miss the rest of the Olympics due to torn cartilage in her right knee.
Smith injured the knee Sunday in the team’s final preliminary game, a 100-62 victory over China. She had bruised that same knee in a WNBA game in late July and was getting only limited playing time in Athens.
The tear showed up in an MRI late Monday. Dr. Sheldon Burns, the team’s physician, confirmed the diagnosis Tuesday.
Discus winner stripped of gold
The Hungarian gold medalist in the men’s discus was stripped of his title for failing to provide a drug test sample in an apparent attempt to beat the screening system.
Robert Fazekas, who won the discus on Monday night with an Olympic record throw of 232 feet, 8 inches, was disqualified from the competition and expelled from the games by the International Olympic Committee executive board.
In another case Tuesday at the drug-tainted Athens Games, Belarusian high jumper Aleksey Lesnichiy was kicked out after testing positive for the steroid clenbuterol, the IOC said. He failed to clear a height in Friday’s qualifying round.
Tremor felt in Athens
A small earthquake northeast of Athens could be felt at Olympic venues in and around the city.
The Athens Geodynamic Institute said the tremor had a preliminary magnitude of 4.5 and occurred at 3:38 p.m. local time. It was centered about 42 miles northeast of Athens, 12 miles beneath the Aegean Sea.
Athens residents who felt the quake reported it as an almost imperceptible shake and many said they felt nothing. There were no reports of injuries or damage.