A discus thrower and a sprinter from Iraq will compete at the Beijing Olympics next month after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) overturned a ban on the troubled country.

The announcement came after a crisis meeting at Olympic headquarters in Lausanne on Tuesday where the IOC brokered a deal with the Iraqi government to give its national Olympic committee full independence.

The IOC had officially suspended seven Iraqi athletes – including two rowers, a weightlifter, a judoka and an archer - from competing in Beijing last week because of the government’s “political interference” in its national Olympic committee. The government sacked the committee in May and replaced it with a new panel headed by Jassem Jaafar, the Iraqi Youth and Sports Minister.

In an attempt to allow their athletes to compete in the Games, members of the Iraqi government met with Olympic officials in Switzerland where, according to the IOC, an agreement was made for “the transparent and fair election of a new, independent Iraqi National Olympic Committee, no later than the end of November 2008”. The agreement re-establishes the independent National Olympic Committee of Iraq which will be allowed to take part in Beijing.

Because the deadline for Games competitors for all events except athletics has already passed, the Iraqi contingent will number just two track and field athletes: Haidar Nasir, a discus thrower, and sprinter Danma Hussein, who will travel to China immediately.

According to the IOC, the Iraqi athletes will now compete in Beijing under the Iraqi flag, led by coaches and team leaders selected by the re-established ndependent Iraqi National Olympic Committee. Five government representatives will also be invited by the IOC as observers to the Games.

IOC President Jacques Rogge said: “I commend the government of Iraq for reaching an agreement that serves the long-term interest of Iraqi athletes, we have said all along that we want to see Iraqi athletes in Beijing.”

The Iraqi government had said that the previous Olympic committee was sacked because of "solid evidence of blatant corruption, lack of legitimate transparent electoral processes and accountability."

The head of the committee, Ahmed Al-Samarrai, was kidnapped at gunpoint in Baghdad in July 2006 at the height of sectarian violence in Iraq along with several associates and he has not been heard of since.

The most recent Olympic suspension involved Afghanistan which was banned in 1999 and missed the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

The Beijing Olympics begin in nine days time, and the athletics events begin on August 15th.