By sportswriter Feng Jian and Li Baojie

    BEIJING, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- "We are very happy to be here for the Olympics and it is very important for us," said Iraqi rower Haidar Nozad told reporters in fluent English five minutes after his men's double sculls heat.

    He was excited and happy with his performance in the race although their boat was the last to reach the finish line.

    "Warm" is the word he chose to depict the hot and humid weather on Saturday afternoon in Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.

    "He heard the news of being able to come for the Beijing Olympics two weeks ago. I then quickly called my partner Hussein Jebur," he said when asked about when he was informed of the news.

    The tall Iraqi rower said that he was still a student of sport and he did training twice a day.

    However, he said that the situation there was a problem for his training.

    "Situation there is OK now. It's better than before. But our training was affected sometimes. You know, the soldiers are there and sometimes the roads would be closed. So we could not get to the River Tigris directly," he said with a smile.

    "Sometimes we had to go around and therefore go a longer distance to train," he told reporters in the mixed zone.

    Haidar said that this is his first Olympics and he feels happy in Beijing.

    "I feel so safe here. I will stay until August 28," the 25-year-old rower added.

    On his reasons for choice of rowing, he just loved the sport.

    "I started rowing in 1999 and we love the sport," he said, with eyes glancing at his partner standing close by.

    He said that there were about 12 to 14 rowing clubs back home.

    During his stay in Beijing, he said that he would try to see Beijing and the best of China. Life in the Olympic village was so good, he said.

    On his links with his home in Baghdad, he said that he received many messages from family and friends each day.

    Before moving on to take questions from other reporters, he said that the venue for the races is just perfect.

    "I feel good and we are just so happy," he said with sweat streaming down his cheeks.