Raed Ahmed was born on 5 June 1967 and is an Iraqi weightlifter.
13 Facts About Raed Ahmed
1.
2.
Raed Ahmed represented Iraq at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where he was the flagbearer during the opening ceremony.
3.
Raed Ahmed lived in southern Iraq prior to the Olympics.
4.
In 1984, Raed Ahmed became the Iraqi champion of weightlifting in the 99kg weight class.
5.
Uday was known for torturing athletes after failure and Raed Ahmed repeatedly attempted to lower his expectations, claiming with the help of physicians that he was injured.
6.
Raed Ahmed disobeyed these orders, noticing that Clinton was clapping for the Iraqi delegation; this made him finalise his decision to defect.
7.
Raed Ahmed was the second member of an Olympic delegation to defect in a week.
8.
Raed Ahmed was brought to Decatur and later met with agents from the Immigration and Naturalization Service to claim asylum.
9.
Raed Ahmed was called a "candle burning for Iraq" by a Kuwaiti journalist recognizing his "act of sacrifice".
10.
Raed Ahmed said that if the asylum application were approved, he would continue weightlifting and bring his wife to the United States.
11.
Raed Ahmed's wife was evacuated from their house a day before his escape to a "haven in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq".
12.
Raed Ahmed's wife left Iraq in 1998 and he visited the country in 2004 for the first time since his defection, following the fall of Saddam's government.
13.
Raed Ahmed has five children, having worked as a used car salesman and football and basketball coach.