08.02.2004: Bodybuilding in Baghdad is such a good story
Monday, August 2, 2004 at 14:27 We previously reported on the bodybuilding competition in Baghdad......Here is an excerpt filed by orrespondent of The Christian Science Monitor:
"BAGHDAD -- At the Arnold Classic Gym in Baghdad, two things matter: Arnold Schwarzenegger and bodybuilding.
No matter what's happening outside - Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, mortars, kidnappings - this shabby gym is an island of civility. Under hundreds of pictures of oiled and bulging Arnolds, Kurds train next to Christians, Sunnis spot Shiites, and foreigners pump iron with the toughest Iraqi strongmen (Nick Berg used to be a regular). If you show up at the right time, you can even find a couple of Shiite women who come all the way from the distant and devoutly Shiite neighborhood of Kadhimiyah to bench press right alongside men. Here, at least, Iraq is one nation under maximum intensity training.
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OUR HERO: Owner Sabah Taleb Mehdi (striped shirt) and friends outside Arnold Classic Gym in Baghdad. ANNIA CIEZADLO | ||||||||||
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"I can't train anywhere else - I was raised here," says Firas Gurgis, a burly young Kurd who went to the Arab World Championship in Amman, Jordan, in May.
"I've been to a lot of gyms, but this is the best, because everyone has respect for each other," says Amjad Najim, a skinny 16-year-old Shiite.
"He is the champion!" shouts beefy gym owner Sabah Taleb Mehdi, knocking him off balance with a hearty thump to the chest. Mr. Mehdi was once a scrawny young Shiite too - until he discovered weight training. Now no one kicks sand in his face: He won Iraq's national bodybuilding championship every year from 1977 to 1990.
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