President of the International Olympic Committee congress. Athens was approved to host the 1896 Olympic Games, being the original home of the Olympics, and Vikelas was duly chosen as the first President of the IOC. Pierre, Baron de Coubertin, took over the IOC presidency when Demetrius Vikelas stepped down after the Olympics in his own country. Despite its initial success, the Olympic Movement faced hard times, as the 1900 Games (in de Coubertin's own Paris) and 1904 Games were both upstaged by World's Fairs—Exposition Universelle in 1900 and Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904—and received little attention. The 1906 Intercalated Games revived the momentum, and the Olympic
National Olympic Committee of Iraq National Olympic Committee of Iraq The National Olympic Committee of Iraq (NOCI) () is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) for Iraq. It was established in 1948 and recognized by the International Olympic Committee that same year. It was officially dissolved in May 2003 by L. Paul Bremer under Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 2. Its current Director General is Tiras Odisho an ethnic Assyrian Christian, a Karate expert and coach, based in Sweden. The committee organizes the Iraqi participation in the Olympic Games, choose the participants and run the training program. It has 16 Olympic national federations members and 7