Ahmed said he was thinking ''one million percent'' about defecting while he carried the flag during the opening ceremony, held in Olympic Stadium on July 19, and seen in almost every country in the world. But he said he was strengthened by an experience while the Iraqi party marched in front of President Clinton.

''We were told to turn our heads away from President Clinton,'' Ahmed said of his instructions from Iraqi officials. ''We were told that President Bush and Clinton wanted to destroy Iraq. Everybody else in our group looked away from President Clinton. They were not men. But I turned my head and looked at him and I could not believe my eyes. He was standing and applauding for us. I know that if the Games were in Iraq, Saddam Hussein would not clap for the U.S.''

Most likely, the President applauded for all nations that paraded in front of him. But Ahmed took it as a further sign he should stay in the United States.

Ahmed, who is 29 years old and lifts in the 218-pound category, has had shoulder injuries complicated by ''bad medical care,'' according to Ahmed. He trained and recuperated from surgery with the strict goal of defecting when he got to Atlanta. When he began training here, he said, American trainers gave him exercises for the shoulder. He finished in the bottom third of his weight class, lifting a total of 665.5 pounds in two separate lifts.

''When I was eliminated from competition, I stopped going to therapy,'' he said. ''But they came after me and told me to continue as long as I am here. They also said they would give me medicine to bring back to Iraq.''