US team and Iraq team eventually met each other in men's double sculls on the tranquil lake of Rowing-Canoeing Park, 50km to the northeast of Nest in Beijing.
Fifteen teams, divided as three groups, were scheduled to take part in the heats on August 9. However, Chinese team was excluded due to the late arrival of one athlete. So the total number of competing teams was fourteen. US team was in Group 1 and Iraqi in Group 2. Iraq team (7:00.46) got the last place in Group 2 and US (6:39.37) was also the last one in Group 1. Both teams were put together with other 3 teams (Russian Federation, Belgium and Bulgaria) to compete in the repechage on Aug 11 17:20 where top three winners would be qualified to enter the Final B. However, US ranked 4th (6:26.05) and Iraq ranked 5th (6:52.71) hence they would enter the Final C for the rank of 13th and 14th place.
The results of previous heats and repechage show that US team is 21-26 seconds faster than Iraq team so there would be nothing surprising to anticipate during Final C. Wes Piermarini (bow) and Elliot Hovey (stroke)are both from Alameda and they are members of California Rowing Club. On the other side, Nozad Haidar (bow)and Jebur Hussein (stroke) are from Baghdad. Nozad escaped to Sweden for three years during the Iraqi war.
On Aug 13 afternoon 17:30, the final C started with Iraq in Lane 1 and US in Lane 2. US team kept the leading position till the end of the 2000m-long lane. Its time spent was 6:33.15, which was almost 19 seconds quicker than that of Iraq's 6:52.02. But Iraqi team also tried its best and the final result was also the best one it achieved in the three rounds. Both teams were warmly applauded by the audience.
The Iraqi team arrived in China just three days before the opening ceremony, after IOC reversed its decision to cancel Iraq's qualification to participate. After the rowing, Iraq still has two athletes to compete in track and field.
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