Team Iraq - Profile

Iraq sent a team to the Olympic Games for the first time in London in 1948. The NOC won its first medal at the 1960 Games in Rome, where Abdul Wahid Aziz claimed bronze in the men's 67.5kg weightlifting category. Aziz remains the sole Iraqi athlete to have won an Olympic medal.

Some of the NOC's best Olympic performances have come on the football field. At the 1980 Games in Moscow, the men's team qualified from a group containing Yugoslavia, Finland and Costa Rica after recording a win and two draws. Iraq faced the German Democratic Republic in the quarterfinals, but lost 4-0 to the eventual silver medallists. Iraq was also represented in football at the Games in 1984 and 1988, but the NOC came closest to winning a medal in the sport at Athens 2004. After topping Group D with two wins and one loss - including a 4-2 victory over a Portugal team featuring Cristiano Ronaldo - Iraq beat Australia 1-0 in the quarterfinal to set up a semifinal against Paraguay. The team's good run ended there, though, as Paraguay won the semifinal 3-1. Italy triumphed in the bronze medal match with a 1-0 win, leaving Iraq in fourth place.

Iraq sent its first female competitors to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Swimmer Noor Haki contested the 50m freestyle, while distance runner Maysa Hussein Matrood competed in the 5000m.