Reply #60: Libyan sport crushed by Gaddafi vanity [View All]

[pinboy3niner]

Sun Sep 11, 2011 2:21pm GMT


By Mohammed Abbas


TRIPOLI, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi did not like sports stars because he feared they would draw the national spotlight away from him, and for a time soccer players could only be referred to on television by their number.


Nabil Elalem, executive head of Libya's National Olympic Committee, said that, for decades under Gaddafi's rule, athletes and sports officials put up with other forms of state meddling, as well as corruption, restrictions on travel and chronic underfunding.

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Gaddafi's family and inner circle controlled almost all of Libya's most high-profile institutions and had interests in virtually all the most lucrative contracts. They also tightly controlled Libya's oil wealth.


Corruption, nepotism and graft were rife.

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"Sport will be a very important tool to bring back harmony to the Libyan people. Libyans are crazy about sport, and we can send messages through sports to all Libyans to be united, to increase their understanding about teamwork," Elalem said.

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http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KB0GQ20110911?sp=true