From the New York Times, 2008
For some people, getting to row in the Beijing Olympics meant ergging harder. For others it meant obtaining enough money to compete. And for a few others still, it meant surviving long enough until race day.
The story of Haidar Nozad and Hussein Jebur, two of Iraq's men scullers, portrayed by the New York Times comes as a very compelling story. Here were two men who were living in a time when heavy internal violence was all around them. Everyday so many of their own countrymen kill and are killed by each other. Sounds of bomb explosions are the norm. Security is nearly at (or at) totalitarian levels. And yet, these athletes pushed their way pass all of this just to row. In the midst of all of this, many would be worrying about far greater things than rowing but guys like these are stronger than that. To them, rowing was escape.
Just recently, Iraq's sovereignty was officially returned to it, marking the official beginning of the US troop withdrawal. Violence levels seems, at least through the eyes of the US media, to have dropped significantly. Hopefully this all means that conditions actually have improved and athletes like this can train appropriately. People like them are rare and it's only in times of terrible hardship that they show themselves to us. This just shows that rowing can be much more than just a sport or exercise. Under circumstances, it becomes life.
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