Iraqi Boxer Preps for Olympics

By Scott Simon

Published July 16, 2004 at 10:00 PM MDT

Najah Ali, 24, will be among a dozen or so Iraqi athletes participating in this year's Olympic summer games in Athens. He is a boxer in the "light flyweight" class. His trainer and mentor is a Houston man named Maurice "Termite" Watkins. NPR's Scott Simon talks with both men about their journey to the Olympics.

Scott Simon

Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy.

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