:00:01. > :00:11.World Olympic Dreams. He trap -- Matthew Pinsent travels to Baghdad
:00:11. > :00:39.
:00:39. > :00:43.hoping to speak to Iraqi hopefuls MUSIC PLAYS # A little bird told me
:00:43. > :00:46.that you love me That you love me # And I believe that you do I believe
:00:46. > :00:50.# This little bird told me I was fallin' Really fallin' # Fallin'
:00:50. > :00:54.for no-one but you No-one but you # There's no use denyin' # I might as
:00:54. > :01:03.well confess # Of all the boys I know, dear # I'm sure I love you
:01:03. > :01:07.best # The little bird... # Henley Royal Regatta. The world's oldest
:01:07. > :01:17.rowing race, held every year on the Thames over a mile and 550 yards
:01:17. > :01:20.
:01:20. > :01:23.It is in many ways the epitome of the sport of gentlemen. The world's
:01:23. > :01:29.fastest rowers battling it out in front of the wealthiest sporting
:01:29. > :01:39.crowds. A showcase event for a sport that Britain has come to
:01:39. > :01:40.
:01:40. > :01:43.But that success does not come easy. Today's generation of elite rowers
:01:43. > :01:47.spend hour after hour doing this. The funding is immense, some �27
:01:47. > :01:57.million has been poured into the sport in pursuit of a gold at
:01:57. > :01:58.
:01:58. > :02:03.London 2012. It is going to be so close! And I know how that pays off.
:02:03. > :02:12.Moments I can ever forget. A whole country tuned in to see British
:02:12. > :02:15.rowing holding its head high, again It is clear watching the current
:02:15. > :02:20.crop of athletes that not much has changed. The equipment, the
:02:20. > :02:29.dedication, all too familiar. The London Olympics is motivating
:02:29. > :02:32.hundreds of athletes to do things So when the chance came as part of
:02:32. > :02:37.the World Olympic Dreams series to follow the lives of athletes around
:02:37. > :02:41.the world, I could not resist tracking down some kindred spirits.
:02:41. > :02:45.So we set about trying to find two rowers training somewhere in the
:02:45. > :02:55.world to come to the London Olympics. What I had not banked on
:02:55. > :03:04.
:03:04. > :03:08.is exactly where they lived. But it was not a hard choice to
:03:08. > :03:18.make. I had to meet the Iraqi rowers, Haider Rashid and Hamza
:03:18. > :03:23.
:03:23. > :03:33.Before I set off, I had to go under intensive training for hostile
:03:33. > :03:39.
:03:39. > :03:46.On the way into town from the airport, I was given a quick lesson
:03:46. > :03:50.in Baghdad reality. The road where we are now used to be the most
:03:50. > :03:57.dangerous road in the world. Some sobering thoughts about the bad
:03:58. > :04:07.times in Baghdad. We are still coming here and training and we saw
:04:08. > :04:38.
:04:38. > :04:44.bodies in the river. And to top it Baghdad - a city of some 7 million
:04:44. > :04:50.people. Plagued by war for decades. At its heart, one of the ancient
:04:50. > :04:53.rivers of the world, the Tigris. Flowing from the mountains in
:04:53. > :04:59.Turkey until it merges with the Euphrates at Basra and then out
:04:59. > :05:09.into the Gulf. 1,800 kilometres from source to the sea, it brings
:05:09. > :05:09.
:05:09. > :05:19.life and greenery to the heartland The river has been a constant in
:05:19. > :05:21.
:05:21. > :05:25.It is supposed to be the acid test of a rower, that you cannot look
:05:25. > :05:28.out on a piece of water without thinking what it would be like to
:05:28. > :05:38.row on that. There might be litter everywhere, helicopter gunships,
:05:38. > :05:45.
:05:45. > :05:50.but from a rowing point of view, Recent times have seen such trauma
:05:50. > :06:00.and chaos for this country. The young here have grown up knowing
:06:00. > :06:25.
:06:25. > :06:28.little but war and it shows in the So when that Saddam Hussein statue
:06:28. > :06:35.came down, I was probably on training camp in Italy watching it
:06:35. > :06:38.on television, a year away from the Athens Olympics. Life for me since
:06:38. > :06:48.has moved in lots of different directions but never for one moment
:06:48. > :06:52.
:06:52. > :07:02.did I think I would be standing In the heart of the English
:07:02. > :07:03.
:07:03. > :07:09.countryside, a stately venue for a We are just going in, we need to be
:07:09. > :07:14.quiet now. Stop. Stop. Journalists wanting to venture into war zones
:07:14. > :07:24.are put through their paces on a course. Hostile environment and
:07:24. > :07:24.
:07:24. > :07:34.first aid training. We enact the worst possible scenarios. Dodging
:07:34. > :07:35.
:07:35. > :07:45.imaginary gun fire and treating the This might look contrived but it
:07:45. > :07:48.
:07:49. > :07:52.feels all too real. There's a new bomb out called the magnetic bomb.
:07:52. > :07:55.Craig Summers is the person you turn to in the BBC if you're
:07:55. > :08:01.heading somewhere dodgy. We met up for a last minute briefing. As you
:08:01. > :08:11.can see, the yellow spots on the map are incidents. OK. How recent
:08:11. > :08:11.
:08:11. > :08:15.are they? That is in the past week. Week? Yes. Some of these happen and
:08:16. > :08:19.you will not even know they have happened. But you will hear
:08:19. > :08:28.explosions at night or during the day. Small arms fire every now and
:08:28. > :08:37.again. So it is part and parcel of going to Baghdad. This is an extra
:08:37. > :08:40.large flak jacket. It does up at the side. It weighs about 10 kilos.
:08:40. > :08:50.A quick visit to see Emma in the news-gathering safety stores for
:08:50. > :08:54.
:08:54. > :08:59.some vital equipment. You'll need a I'm pleased to say that that was
:08:59. > :09:09.the last time I put my flak jacket on. From the moment I arrived in
:09:09. > :09:10.
:09:10. > :09:15.Baghdad it stayed in the car, but This road you're on now used to be
:09:15. > :09:22.the most dangerous road in the world. But the Americans have gone
:09:22. > :09:26.and the interchanges are now manned by the Iraqi police. All along the
:09:27. > :09:36.central reservation there used to be palm trees. Then when the
:09:37. > :10:05.
:10:05. > :10:09.Americans came in, they chopped the My first taste of Baghdad traffic.
:10:09. > :10:14.I'm here to meet Hamza Hussein, a quarter of the whole Iraqi team at
:10:14. > :10:24.the Beijing by Olympics. He and his partner, Haider Rashid, competed in
:10:24. > :10:28.
:10:28. > :10:37.the double sculls. Nice to meet you. You had the Asian Games, and now
:10:37. > :10:41.what is next? Now Egypt, the Arabic games. We're off to the Baghdad
:10:41. > :10:45.Rowing Club, a place I have been imagining for months and now I'm
:10:45. > :10:53.about to see for the first time. It should be a ten-minute journey, but
:10:53. > :10:57.this is Baghdad. It is slow to drive. Every day in this city, jam
:10:57. > :11:01.after jam. Road blocks and checkpoints. A convoy of huge
:11:01. > :11:06.American armoured vehicles does not help move things along. This city
:11:06. > :11:16.gets you nowhere fast. But it did give us time to compare rowing
:11:16. > :11:20.
:11:20. > :11:24.calluses. Six years - gone. Just Haider Rashid had a better idea. He
:11:24. > :11:34.is 27 and bikes his way every day from Baghdad University to the
:11:34. > :11:38.
:11:38. > :11:41.river. The distant sound of gunfire You train here every day? Every day.
:11:41. > :11:46.Meeting with these guys and the other rowers, we soon find a common
:11:46. > :11:56.issue. Fitting new sculling grips is a pain whether on the Tigris or
:11:56. > :12:02.
:12:02. > :12:08.the Thames. The last bit is always What happened here? I crashed! Hit
:12:08. > :12:12.the bottom! The Baghdad boat house is much like any other around the
:12:12. > :12:21.world. It may lack a few bells and whistles but at its heart it is a
:12:21. > :12:26.It is an unavoidable fact that if you put three rowers together, it
:12:26. > :12:31.doesn't take long before they start discussing weights. We call it a
:12:31. > :12:41.pull-down, a lap pull-down. 300 kilos for this, plus this, plus
:12:41. > :12:51.
:12:51. > :12:55.this. Full-time for the weights? The wars here meant that neither
:12:55. > :13:00.had rowed until quite late on. When they started out, the club could
:13:00. > :13:07.barely afford the oars, never mind the boats they now have. So getting
:13:07. > :13:11.to Beijing was more than half the battle. They wrote about us that we
:13:11. > :13:21.were rowing for the first time in the Olympic Games. Just two
:13:21. > :13:25.
:13:25. > :13:28.athletes. One runner and the other through this. So we're just four
:13:28. > :13:33.from Iraq. And was the Olympics everything you thought it was going
:13:33. > :13:37.to be? We had imagined something and to see it was amazing.
:13:37. > :13:47.Everything organised. And the Village, the restaurants. I think
:13:47. > :14:11.
:14:11. > :14:18.sport has united all Iraqi people. This river was the frontline in so
:14:18. > :14:28.much of the recent conflict here. After Saddam was toppled, sectarian
:14:28. > :14:33.
:14:33. > :14:40.violence spiralled out of control. 2006/7, this year was very, very
:14:40. > :14:47.bad. Nobody can go normally in the street. You just want to be at home.
:14:47. > :14:52.We still came here training. We see a lot of bodies in the river. There
:14:52. > :14:58.is one, two bodies down there. We cannot move it. We still train
:14:58. > :15:04.three metres from it. We go from here to the body. One body stayed
:15:04. > :15:11.there two or three weeks. I left Iraq at that time. What made you
:15:11. > :15:20.come back? I was asked to come back for training and competing.
:15:20. > :15:30.Hamza ever thought about going somewhere else? Hamza never think
:15:30. > :16:02.
:16:02. > :16:05.he leave Iraq. He stay with the Stepping away from the water and
:16:05. > :16:09.reflecting on what they've had to endure, it makes the hardship of an
:16:09. > :16:19.ordinary athlete seem almost luxurious. It begs the question,
:16:19. > :16:28.
:16:28. > :16:31.Here we go. Go into the street cafes and it's clear just how the
:16:31. > :16:40.average Baghdad residents love their sport and how much Iraq needs
:16:40. > :16:46.it. TRANSLATION: When Iraq does well at sport, it is good for our
:16:46. > :16:49.country's reputation. It makes us feel good about ourselves. We can
:16:49. > :16:56.forget about the killing, the bombings, the corruption, it makes
:16:56. > :16:59.us feel happy. Iraqis are passionate about their
:16:59. > :17:09.sport but they've only ever won one medal at the Olympics, a bronze in
:17:09. > :17:09.
:17:09. > :17:12.weight lifting 50 years ago. Looking back over the last few
:17:12. > :17:22.decades, what strikes you is that they've managed to get to every
:17:22. > :17:27.game since 1980, that, despite the wars and the upheaval. There are
:17:28. > :17:31.dark tales from the Saddam Husseineer era. His son headed the
:17:31. > :17:41.Olympic Committee. And there were reports of torture and murder for
:17:41. > :17:44.
:17:44. > :17:49.those who missed training or didn't So any success is something to
:17:49. > :17:57.cherish. Haider knows that but he also has to face reality. He's
:17:57. > :18:03.getting married. Marriage is a new phase for anyone. It may be one of
:18:03. > :18:07.several changes for him. Iraq is his home for now. But will it offer
:18:07. > :18:10.him the best chance to train and compete at the level he aspires to?
:18:10. > :18:15.For the time being, his life is much like any other aspiring
:18:15. > :18:22.sportsman of his age. A daily routine of study and training. But
:18:23. > :18:25.he left Iraq once before because of the war and lived in Sweden. Now,
:18:25. > :18:29.the training opportunities that another country could offer may
:18:29. > :18:36.pull him away from the friends and the city he loves. He has a tough
:18:36. > :18:41.decision to make. Tough, too, as going would mean leaving behind his
:18:41. > :18:44.rowing partner Hamza. At 34, he's nine years older than Haider. He's
:18:44. > :18:49.very settled here juggling training with his home life. He worked in
:18:49. > :18:55.the family bakery before giving that up to row full-time. It may
:18:55. > :19:00.not seem like much. But this generator is one of the perks that
:19:00. > :19:04.Hamza's sporting status allows him. A luxury in a city where power cuts
:19:04. > :19:13.are still a daily occurrance. Those hours in the weights room are worth
:19:13. > :19:17.it, then. The noise of the generator may well drown out
:19:17. > :19:21.anything you're trying to watch on the TV. But a cup of tea from your
:19:21. > :19:27.mum is welcome wherever you are. For Hamza, a chance to compete in
:19:27. > :19:30.London either with or without Haider is his main goal. He
:19:30. > :19:35.survives on prize money and the monthly grant he gets from the
:19:35. > :19:43.Olympic Committee. Rowing is his whole life and it defines who he is.
:19:43. > :19:46.TRANSLATION: What I love about rowing has to be the competitions.
:19:46. > :19:51.When we train, I think about the plan the coach has put together for
:19:51. > :19:55.us. I think about how I can adapt it so I can get the best out of
:19:55. > :19:58.myself. We put so much effort into it. Here in Baghdad, there are so
:19:58. > :20:02.many challenges involved. I feel when I compete I can really show my
:20:02. > :20:10.courage. For the younger generation of rowers here, Haider and Hamza
:20:10. > :20:14.are more than just role models. They are proof that, despite the
:20:14. > :20:20.odds stacked against them, they can make it. They can get to world
:20:20. > :20:23.competitions and prove Iraq is more than just a war zone. The club
:20:23. > :20:32.officials are in no doubt of how sport can bring this nation
:20:32. > :20:34.together. TRANSLATION: Sport is very important here. It involves a
:20:34. > :20:43.large section of youngsters and brings together people from
:20:43. > :20:46.different parts of Iraqi society. From different ethnicities and
:20:46. > :20:55.sectors. It doesn't differentiate between Arab, Kurdish, Sunni, Shia
:20:55. > :21:02.and so on. It is an uniter of all Iraqis. We hope Iraq's getting
:21:02. > :21:10.better. There's security. We want peace, live normally like everybody
:21:10. > :21:17.lives. Right now, we are living normally. I go to my college, come
:21:17. > :21:22.to my training. Normal life. He have job. Goes to his job. We hope
:21:22. > :21:32.Iraq's getting better by security. There is no more war, no more bombs.
:21:32. > :21:34.
:21:34. > :21:41.Be safe. That's what we hope for Hamza and Haider are too modest to
:21:41. > :21:44.see themselves as peace makers. They are rowers first and foremost.
:21:44. > :21:49.Dedicated enough for them to rejig this boat to fit one huge former
:21:49. > :21:52.Olympian in. Now we come to the bit of the trip
:21:53. > :21:59.I've been looking forward to. That's going rowing on the Tigris.
:21:59. > :22:06.I'm going with Hamza and Haider. And another from the club. Haider
:22:06. > :22:11.is a heavyweight. Like me. He's a big guy. He's at least fit. Hamza
:22:11. > :22:14.is a lightweight. He's probably six inches shorter and at least three
:22:14. > :22:21.stone lighter than Haider. We're giving away a bit of power with
:22:21. > :22:25.that. The other guy who's coming down will be a lightweight. It will
:22:25. > :22:32.be a bit of a mix and match four, you could say. But I'm still
:22:32. > :22:36.looking forward to it. It's not really de rigueur to allow two of
:22:36. > :22:42.your crewmates to do all the work. So I better help them before we go
:22:42. > :22:51.out on the water. So many of us are fascinated by the tales of winning
:22:51. > :22:54.that will spring from the London Games. The champions, the medals.
:22:54. > :23:04.Iraq has only won a single bronze in Olympic history. And that won't
:23:04. > :23:04.
:23:04. > :23:47.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 43 seconds
:23:47. > :23:52.change in London, but that's not My time in Iraq is coming to an end.
:23:52. > :24:01.I'll be glad to be at home and to really ask myself, was it worth it?
:24:01. > :24:04.It's been hard work and yes, on some levels, it's been dangerous.
:24:04. > :24:12.But workload and risk are what Hamza and Haider have to balance
:24:12. > :24:15.every day. So I guess I owed to them. Yes, it was worth it.
:24:15. > :24:20.Ever since I've been in Baghdad, the only time the place has ever
:24:20. > :24:26.felt right is down by the river. Whether it is filming down that way
:24:26. > :24:29.in the city. Or coming here to the rowing club and seeing these guys
:24:29. > :24:32.training here, doing their preparations. It's been standing on
:24:32. > :24:37.the bank that's looked good for the first time. When you step back from
:24:37. > :24:44.the river, it's all much harder work. It's chaos, traffic, it's
:24:44. > :24:47.pollution, it's corruption and of course, the violence. And then
:24:47. > :24:51.suddenly, this afternoon, going out on to the water, all that falls