AN Iraqi weightlifter, Raed Ahmed, fled the Olympic village on Wednesday and was seeking political asylum in the United States, ABC television news reported.
Mr Ahmed (29), who carried his country's flag in the Olympic opening ceremony, told the network in an interview he was "escaping from the hell of Iraq."
The athlete said he got away from his official minders when they were chatting to each other.
Mr Thomas Fischer, director of the Atlanta office of the US Immigration and Naturalisation Service, said late on Wednesday that an associate of Mr Ahmed had contacted the office and that an interview would probably be held "in the very near future".
US officials declined comment on whether Mr Ahmed had formally asked for asylum. But ABC said he was hiding in an Atlanta hotel.
The Iraqi National Congress (INC) said in a statement, issued earlier in London, that Mr Ahmed had told it he was seeking asylum.
"We have been talking to him ... but I don't know whether he has applied for asylum yet," an INC spokesman said.
The INC quoted Ahmed as saying that the Iraqi leader, President Saddam Hussein, and his two sons had "turned Iraq into a concentration camp".
He added: "I have witnessed with my own eyes Saddam's cousin, Ali Hasan Majid, shoot innocent civilians. I had to take this opportunity to escape."
Iraq has a tiny team in Atlanta and has so far failed to win any medals.
"I love my country, I just don't like the regime," Mr Ahmed told the New York Times.
After fleeing the village the weightlifter was first taken to a safe house in the Atlanta suburbs. He was then moved to a hotel in the city to await contact with the US authorities.
The wrestler was helped by two Georgia residents - a student, Mr Omar Muhamed, and a Briton, Mr Francis Brooke. Mr Muhamed, who is a member of the INC, said he heard through opposition sources that the athlete wanted to get away, and had posed as an Argentine last week so that he could hand Mr Ahmed a letter offering help.