Haidar walks down steps with bicycle on shoulder
HAIDAR NOWZAD is one of Iraq's top rowers.
(NATURAL SOUND OF HAIDAR: "Let's go")
Cycling shots through streets of Baghdad
He is on his way to his daily training session on the banks of the River Tigris.
It's a white-knuckle ride through the mean streets of Baghdad.
Next month Iraqi athletes will be taking part in the Olympic Games in Athens.
Haidar has been told he stands a very good chance of being one of them.
Alaa Hikamt standing on street. Sitting on bus looking out of window. Getting off bus.
ALAA HIKMAT is Iraq's number one sprinter.
After an exhausting day studying for her exams she's taken four buses to get to her training session.
32 Iraqi athletes are going to Athens this summer and Alaa is the only woman amongst them.
but they're up against it more than most....
- training for the Olympic dream - against a backdrop of chaos.
(UP MUSIC)
Street shots, beggars, child in rubbish
Life in this city isnt easy:
Every day another hardship -- more attacks.....
Shots from aftermath of suicide bomb in Tahrir Sqaure
(NATURAL SOUND FROM BOMB AFTERMATH)
Haidar rowing on the River Tigris
Haidar never knows what to expect when he gets down to the Tigris.
He an his team mates only practise on the stretch of water between The Seventeenth Bridge and Martyrs Bridge - everywhere else is deemed just too dangerous.
Ambulance on river banks, crowds, body.
Today's a case in point - they're pulling a body out of the river on the opposite bank.
ASTON:
HAIDAR NOWZAD
Rower, Olympic hopeful
(in canoe)
"For a sportsman training in an area like this - well, psychologically its pretty devastating. Once, I was training close to the
shore and there was an explosion. Shrapnel fell in the water. It WASNT very nice."
Haidar cleans his canoe, puts it on his shoulder and walks up steps.
Much of the rowing team was equipped through the food for oil programme after the first Gulf War. But most of the team's canoes were destroyed during the last one - others were looted.
They managed to buy some of them back from criminal
gangs.
Haidar washes face in changing room, walks down aisle between canoes
Their original rowing club has been something of a casualty, too - hence the rather impromtu set-up:
ASTON:
HAIDAR NOWZAD
Rower
(in canoe)
"We had a proper place to train as rowers - but it was taken over by the Americans. It became a target - and it has been destroyed. It'll take at least a year to put it right again."
(UP MUSIC OVER TANK WHIZZING PAST AND LOCK-OFF OF RUBBISH)
It's not a bowl of cherries if you want to be an Iraqi Olympic Sprinter, either.
Ala'a lives in a rough part of town with her brother and her mother, a retired teacher.
She gets forty dollars a month from the Olympic committee barely enough for transport - and she's realistic about her chances in the hundred and two hundred metres:
Sitting with mother in reception room
ASTON:
ALAA HIKMAT
Sprinter
CG at 2'53":
"The simplest thing an Olympic athlete needs is time in a training camp. I've been given a month in a camp - but even for an ORDINARY event, an athelete should get 4 months training - I'm only getting one month - and this is for the OLYMPICS! It's just not enough time for me to improve."
Shots of al Koshafa stadium, rubbish, wrecked seats
Her living quarters are pretty humble - but look at the place where she trains.
It's virtually derelict.
Alaa walking inside stadium with her coach
Ala'a didn't have to qualifyfor Athens - she got in with a wild card instead.
The International Olympic Committee gives them out to ensure athletes from
around the world can take part.
All of the Iraqis apart from the Football Team are participating on this basis. And with facilities like this, it's no surprise:
Alaa walking in stadium with coach, then into changing rooms, giving guided tour of facilities at the Al Koshafa Stadium.
ALA'A HIKMAT
Sprinter
"This is where we take a shower!
(points to corner )
Let me show you guys around - THIS is where the guests stay!
(points to rubble in corner)
And HERE - well, you could film a horror movie here.
And THESE are the toilet facilities!
This is where I get changed - but I always keep an eye out incase someone comes in, because there's no door as you can see."
The Al Koshafa stadium was built under the British Mandate in the 1930s - no OTHER international athletes would evenconsider training here, but Al'aa has no choice.
And today she's exhausted. The session ISN'T going too well
Coach giving instructions
(COACH UPSOT SHOUTING: "Ya'la!")
...but her coach, the man who discovered her at a school competition last year, is trying to look on the bright side ...
ASTON:
ABDU ZAHARA AL-SOUDANI
Alaas coach
[CG at 4'47":]
"My wish for Ala'a is that she can get SOME sort of a result in Athens - but hoping for that is really beyond us. Our best running times are no match for the other international ones. The Olympics are a test for the finest athletes in the world."
Kifah Street - this is where Haidar has lived with his family for seventeen years. It's a scary part of town - our driver once had to come here to buy back his own car that had just been stolen. For most people Kifah Street is the end of the line.
This is one of the reasons why going to Athens is so important for Haidar. It is his ticket out of here.
He takes us up on to the roof, where the family all sleep on these hot nights:
Haidar wanders around roof of apartment block , pointing to beds where family sleep in summer
UPSOT
"This is my brothers place - this is where I sleep - this is where my other brother sleeps - and over here, is where my parents and sister sleep."
As one of Iraq's top rowers Haidar's got the dedication - and he's got the medals to prove it too.
Haidar now in bedroom, points to medals on bedroom shelf.
(Haidar UPSOT natural sound in English)
"A silver: one silver - and two bronze."
- but today Haidar has got bad news. He's just been told he hasn't got a wild card after all - it went to a Phillipino instead.
ASTON:
HAIDAR NOWZAD
Rower
I'm really sad that I wont be there to participate in this great festival, and gain experience, but I'm happy for my collegues. I've only just met Ala'a, although I'd heard of her before. I AM happy for her - but I'm sorry for myself. God willing, I'll get another chance.
Alaa Hikmat in her house, retrieving trainers from room, shows them to camera
"Do you want to have a look at my running shoes?"
Ala'a's going to the Olympics with a pair of second hand trainers:
"I won 2 championships in these! (laughs) These are the lucky shoes!"
Alaa putting on shoes and Haidar in his boat on the River Tigris
(music up)
Alaa is at pre-Olympic camp in Germany now.
Haidar has accepted he's not going to Greece.
He's back out on the Tigris though
- still rowing, still dreaming of success.
HAIDAR NOWZAD is one of Iraq's top rowers.
(NATURAL SOUND OF HAIDAR: "Let's go")
Cycling shots through streets of Baghdad
He is on his way to his daily training session on the banks of the River Tigris.
It's a white-knuckle ride through the mean streets of Baghdad.
Next month Iraqi athletes will be taking part in the Olympic Games in Athens.
Haidar has been told he stands a very good chance of being one of them.
Alaa Hikamt standing on street. Sitting on bus looking out of window. Getting off bus.
ALAA HIKMAT is Iraq's number one sprinter.
After an exhausting day studying for her exams she's taken four buses to get to her training session.
32 Iraqi athletes are going to Athens this summer and Alaa is the only woman amongst them.
but they're up against it more than most....
- training for the Olympic dream - against a backdrop of chaos.
(UP MUSIC)
Street shots, beggars, child in rubbish
Life in this city isnt easy:
Every day another hardship -- more attacks.....
Shots from aftermath of suicide bomb in Tahrir Sqaure
(NATURAL SOUND FROM BOMB AFTERMATH)
Haidar rowing on the River Tigris
Haidar never knows what to expect when he gets down to the Tigris.
He an his team mates only practise on the stretch of water between The Seventeenth Bridge and Martyrs Bridge - everywhere else is deemed just too dangerous.
Ambulance on river banks, crowds, body.
Today's a case in point - they're pulling a body out of the river on the opposite bank.
ASTON:
HAIDAR NOWZAD
Rower, Olympic hopeful
(in canoe)
"For a sportsman training in an area like this - well, psychologically its pretty devastating. Once, I was training close to the
shore and there was an explosion. Shrapnel fell in the water. It WASNT very nice."
Haidar cleans his canoe, puts it on his shoulder and walks up steps.
Much of the rowing team was equipped through the food for oil programme after the first Gulf War. But most of the team's canoes were destroyed during the last one - others were looted.
They managed to buy some of them back from criminal
gangs.
Haidar washes face in changing room, walks down aisle between canoes
Their original rowing club has been something of a casualty, too - hence the rather impromtu set-up:
ASTON:
HAIDAR NOWZAD
Rower
(in canoe)
"We had a proper place to train as rowers - but it was taken over by the Americans. It became a target - and it has been destroyed. It'll take at least a year to put it right again."
(UP MUSIC OVER TANK WHIZZING PAST AND LOCK-OFF OF RUBBISH)
It's not a bowl of cherries if you want to be an Iraqi Olympic Sprinter, either.
Ala'a lives in a rough part of town with her brother and her mother, a retired teacher.
She gets forty dollars a month from the Olympic committee barely enough for transport - and she's realistic about her chances in the hundred and two hundred metres:
Sitting with mother in reception room
ASTON:
ALAA HIKMAT
Sprinter
CG at 2'53":
"The simplest thing an Olympic athlete needs is time in a training camp. I've been given a month in a camp - but even for an ORDINARY event, an athelete should get 4 months training - I'm only getting one month - and this is for the OLYMPICS! It's just not enough time for me to improve."
Shots of al Koshafa stadium, rubbish, wrecked seats
Her living quarters are pretty humble - but look at the place where she trains.
It's virtually derelict.
Alaa walking inside stadium with her coach
Ala'a didn't have to qualifyfor Athens - she got in with a wild card instead.
The International Olympic Committee gives them out to ensure athletes from
around the world can take part.
All of the Iraqis apart from the Football Team are participating on this basis. And with facilities like this, it's no surprise:
Alaa walking in stadium with coach, then into changing rooms, giving guided tour of facilities at the Al Koshafa Stadium.
ALA'A HIKMAT
Sprinter
"This is where we take a shower!
(points to corner )
Let me show you guys around - THIS is where the guests stay!
(points to rubble in corner)
And HERE - well, you could film a horror movie here.
And THESE are the toilet facilities!
This is where I get changed - but I always keep an eye out incase someone comes in, because there's no door as you can see."
The Al Koshafa stadium was built under the British Mandate in the 1930s - no OTHER international athletes would evenconsider training here, but Al'aa has no choice.
And today she's exhausted. The session ISN'T going too well
Coach giving instructions
(COACH UPSOT SHOUTING: "Ya'la!")
...but her coach, the man who discovered her at a school competition last year, is trying to look on the bright side ...
ASTON:
ABDU ZAHARA AL-SOUDANI
Alaas coach
[CG at 4'47":]
"My wish for Ala'a is that she can get SOME sort of a result in Athens - but hoping for that is really beyond us. Our best running times are no match for the other international ones. The Olympics are a test for the finest athletes in the world."
Kifah Street - this is where Haidar has lived with his family for seventeen years. It's a scary part of town - our driver once had to come here to buy back his own car that had just been stolen. For most people Kifah Street is the end of the line.
This is one of the reasons why going to Athens is so important for Haidar. It is his ticket out of here.
He takes us up on to the roof, where the family all sleep on these hot nights:
Haidar wanders around roof of apartment block , pointing to beds where family sleep in summer
UPSOT
"This is my brothers place - this is where I sleep - this is where my other brother sleeps - and over here, is where my parents and sister sleep."
As one of Iraq's top rowers Haidar's got the dedication - and he's got the medals to prove it too.
Haidar now in bedroom, points to medals on bedroom shelf.
(Haidar UPSOT natural sound in English)
"A silver: one silver - and two bronze."
- but today Haidar has got bad news. He's just been told he hasn't got a wild card after all - it went to a Phillipino instead.
ASTON:
HAIDAR NOWZAD
Rower
I'm really sad that I wont be there to participate in this great festival, and gain experience, but I'm happy for my collegues. I've only just met Ala'a, although I'd heard of her before. I AM happy for her - but I'm sorry for myself. God willing, I'll get another chance.
Alaa Hikmat in her house, retrieving trainers from room, shows them to camera
"Do you want to have a look at my running shoes?"
Ala'a's going to the Olympics with a pair of second hand trainers:
"I won 2 championships in these! (laughs) These are the lucky shoes!"
Alaa putting on shoes and Haidar in his boat on the River Tigris
(music up)
Alaa is at pre-Olympic camp in Germany now.
Haidar has accepted he's not going to Greece.
He's back out on the Tigris though
- still rowing, still dreaming of success.