Karam Ibrahim

Karam Ibrahim medal table
Wrestler
Egypt
Greco-Roman Olympic Games
gold	2004 Athens	up to 96 kg
silver	2012 London	up to 84 kg
Greco-Roman World Championships
silver	2002 Moscow	up to 96 kg
silver	2003 Créteil	up to 96 kg

Karam Mohammed Ibrahim Gaber ( Arabic كرم محمد إبراهيم جابر, DMG Karam Muḥammad Ibrāhīm Ǧābir ; Born September 1, 1979 in Alexandria ) is an Egyptian wrestler . He won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and a silver medal in the Greco-Roman style in the light heavyweight or middleweight division at the 2012 Olympic Games in London .

Career

Karam Mohammed Ibrahim Gaber grew up in a wrestling family in his hometown of Alexandria. Ever since father and his five older brothers were wrestlers. So it was only natural that he too started wrestling at the age of 8 in the Nasr Youth Club . Through the Nasr Club he finally came to the Olympic Club Alexandria as his skills increased . There he was discovered in 1995 by the Armenian trainer Yehia Kazanian. Other important coaches in his subsequent career were Ibrahim El Weshahi and the German Lothar Ruch. He concentrated fully on the Greco-Roman style and started at a height of 1.91 meters initially in the welterweight division , but grew through the middleweight division into the light heavyweight division. In 2012 he started again in the middleweight division.

He made his first start at an international championship at the age of 18 in May 1997 at the African championships in Casablanca, where he immediately won the welterweight title in front of the Algerian Youcef Bouguerra. Two months later he came in 3rd place at the Mediterranean Games in Bari behind the experienced Frenchman Yvon Riemer and Dimitrios Avramis from Greece. In August 1997 he won a bronze medal at the Junior World Championships in Turku in the weight class up to 76 kg behind Sándor Bárdosi from Hungary and Artur Michalkiewicz from Poland. He also won a bronze medal at the 1998 Junior World Championships in Cairo in the weight class up to 83 kg.

From 1997, Karam Mohammed Ibrahim Gaber has also won countless championships on the African continent (Arab Games, Arab Championships, African Championships and All-African Games).

In 2000 he tried to qualify for participation in the Olympic Games in Sydney, which he did not succeed in spite of a good 3rd place in the qualifying tournament in Alexandria behind Sergei Lishtwan , Belarus and Petru Sudureac from Romania. In 2001 he won in Levallois / France in the light heavyweight division at a World Cup tournament in front of the strong Russian Sergei Artjuchin . Hamza Yerlikaya , the successful Turkish wrestler only came in 5th place in this tournament. He then took part in a world championship for the first time in Patras / Greece in 2001, but lost his first light heavyweight fight against Marek Švec from the Czech Republic and was then able to defeat world-class wrestler Mindaugas Erzerskis because of the peculiar rules that were in force at the time only fight for 14th place from Lithuania.

In 2002, Karam Mohammed Ibrahim Gaber's first major international success followed. He was in Moscow in the light heavyweight with victories over Jimmy Lidberg , Sweden, Marek Sitnik , Poland, Marek Svec and Ali Mollow , Bulgaria, in a defeat in the final against Mehmet Özal from Turkey runner-up world champion. One month after this world championship, he won a World Cup tournament in Cairo before Hamza Yerlikaya. He then went to the United States for a few months, where his eldest brother had emigrated. He also considered staying entirely in the United States, but eventually returned to Egypt.

In October 2003 he was again runner-up light heavyweight world champion in Créteil. On the way to this success he defeated Ali Mollow, Kemo Kato from Japan, Mehmet Özal, whom he cleared with 8-0 points, Alexander Besrutschkin , Russia and Ramas Nosadze from Georgia and was only defeated in the final against Martin Lidberg from Sweden.

In August 2004, Karam Mohammed Ibrahim Gaber entered the Olympic Games in Athens in top form. There he defeated Marek Sitnik, Georgios Koutsioubas , Greece, Ässet Mämbetow , Kazakhstan, Mehmet Özal (11: 0) and Ramas Nosadze (12: 1) and became Olympic champion in a superior style.

Between 2004 and 2008 he took part in only one world championship. He lost in 2006 in Guangzhou / China in his first fight against Hamza Yerlikaya and ended up in 19th place. In 2008, however, he managed to qualify for participation in the Olympic Games again in Novi Sad by winning a tournament in front of Theodoros Tounousidis from Greece. At the games in Beijing he started again in the light heavyweight division, but also lost his first fight there against Elis Guri from Albania (1: 2 rounds, 5: 6 points), with which he was eliminated and only finished 13th.

In 2009 and 2010 he took a break and worked as a freelance businessman. In December 2011 he took part in an international championship again and won the Middleweight Arab Games in Doha in front of Messaoud Zeghdane from Algeria. In 2012, he won the tournament in Marrakech to qualify for the Olympic Games in London this year. He started it in the middleweight division. In London he won over Nenad Žugaj from Croatia, Melonin Noumonvi from France and Amer Hrustanovic from Austria and thus faced the Russian Alan Chugajew in the final battle , against whom he lost with 0: 2 rounds and 0: 3 points and thus won the silver medal.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
1997	1.	Africa Championship in Casablanca	Welter	before Youcef Bouguerra, Algeria and Ernest Malherbe, South Africa
1997	3.	Mediterranean Games in Bari	Welter	behind Yves Riemer, France and Dimitrio Avramis, Greece
1997	1.	Arab games in Beirut	Welter	before Salah Ghalileh, Syria and Nour-Eddine Elhabesh, Lebanon
1997	3.	Junior World Championships (Juniors) in Turku	up to 76 kg	behind Sandor Bardosi, Hungary and Artur Michalkiewicz, Poland
1997	1.	Pan Arab Games in Damascus	Welter	before Salah Ghalileh and Ali Aouarki, Lebanon
1998	1.	African games in Cairo	medium	from Sofiane Quadjinia, Algeria and Mohamed Smiry, Morocco
1998	3.	African games in Cairo	Semi-difficult	behind Isaac Mpia Endjam, Cameroon and Phanie Vermaak, South Africa (Karam Ibrahim's only free style competition)
1998	3.	Junior World Championships in Cairo	up to 83 kg	behind Takin Caglar, Turkey and Oleksandr Darahan , Ukraine
1999	1.	All-African Games in Johannesburg	Semi-difficult	before Hassan Fkiri, Tunisia and Markus Johannes Dekker, South Africa
2000	3.	Olympic qualification tournament in Alexandria	Semi-difficult	behind Sergei Lishtwan, Belarus and Petru Sudureac, Romania
2000	1.	Africa championship	Semi-difficult	before Hassan Fkiri and G. Vollenhoven, South Africa
2001	1.	Casino prize in Salzburg	Semi-difficult	before Georgios Koutsooubas and Ioannis Savvas, both Greece and Mirko Englich , Germany
2001	1.	Mediterranean Games	Semi-difficult	before Konstantinos Thanos, Greece and Serkan Özden, Turkey
2001	1.	World Cup in Levallois	Semi-difficult	before Sergei Artjuchin, Russia and Cedric Theval, France
2001	14th	World Cup in Patras	Semi-difficult	after a defeat against Marek Svec, Czech Republic and a victory over Mindaugas Ezerskis, Lithuania
2002	1.	Africa Championship in Cairo	Semi-difficult	from Moustapha Bouari, Morocco and Steven van Eeden, South Africa
2002	2.	World Cup in Moscow	Semi-difficult	after victories over Jimmy Lidberg, Sweden, Marek Sitnik, Poland, Marek Svec and Ali Mollow, Bulgaria and a defeat against Mehmet Özal, Turkey
2002	1.	World Cup in Cairo	Semi-difficult	before Hamza Yerlikaya, Turkey and Ethan Bosch, USA
2003	1.	Dave Schultz Memorial International in Colorado Springs	Semi-difficult	before Ali Mollow and Jimmy Lidberg
2003	2.	Nikolai Petrov Memorial in Sofia	Semi-difficult	behind Ara Abrahamian , Sweden, in front of Mehmet Özal and Sergei Lishtwan
2003	2.	World Cup in Créteil	Semi-difficult	after victories over Ali Mollow, Kemo Kato, Japan, Mohmet Özal, Alexander Besrutschkin, Russia and Ramas Nosadze, Georgia and a defeat against Martin Lidberg, Sweden
2003	1.	All-African Games in Abuja	Semi-difficult	ahead of Boughami Qualid, Tunisia and Benhamed Redah, Algeria
2004	gold	OS in Athens	Semi-difficult	after victories over Marek Sitnik, Georgios Koutsioubas, Ässet Mämbetow , Kazakhstan, Mehmet Özil and Ramas Nosadze
2005	1.	Africa Championship in Casablanca	Semi-difficult	before John Short, South Africa and Moustapha Bouari
2005	1.	Mediterranean Games in Almería	Semi-difficult	before Georgios Koutsioubas and Radomir Petkovic, Serbia-Montenegro
2006	1.	Africa Championship in Pretoria	Semi-difficult	before Holem Ayari, Tunisia and John Short
2006	19th	World Cup in Guangzhou	Semi-difficult	after losing to Hamza Yerlikaya
2007	1.	Africa Championship in Cairo	Semi-difficult	before Samir Bouguerra, Algeria and Bashir Yahyaoui, Tunisia
2008	2.	Hungarian Grand Prix in Szombathely	Semi-difficult	behind Jimmy Lidberg, in front of Andrzei Deberny, Poland and Mehmet Özal
2008	5.	Olympic qualification tournament in Rome-Ostia	Semi-difficult	behind Kalojan Dinchew , Bulgaria, Lajos Virág , Hungary, Oleg Kryoko, Ukraine and Mehmet Özal
2008	1.	Olympic qualification tournament in Novi Sad	Semi-difficult	before Theodorus Tounousidis, Greece, Arman Geghamjan, Armenia and Mirko Englich
2008	13.	OS in Beijing	Semi-difficult	after losing to Elis Guri, Albania
2011	1.	Arab games in Doha	medium	before Messaoud Zeghdane, Algeria and Haykol Achouni, Tunisia
2012	10.	Dan Kolow & Nikolai Petrow Memorial in Sofia	medium	Winner: Wladimit Gegeschidze Georgia ahead of Nikolai Bayryakow, Bulgaria
2012	1.	Olympic qualification tournament in Marrakech	medium	in front of Haykol Achouni and Said Moulla, Morocco
2012	2.	Mediterranean Championship in Larissa	medium	behind Saban Karatas, Turkey, in front of Laocratis Kesidis, Greece
2012	2.	Trophee Milone in Sassari	Semi-difficult	behind Daigoro Timoncini , Italy, in front of Azad Sanoor, Iraq
2012	3.	Wladyslaw Pytlasinski Memorial in Ratibor	medium	behind Alan Chugajew, Russia and Damian Janikowski , Poland
2012	2.	German Grand Prix in Dortmund	Semi-difficult	behind Frederik Schoen, Sweden, in front of Ardo Arusaar, Estonia and Soso Jabidse, Georgia
2012	silver	OS in London	medium	after victories over Nenad Zugaj, Croatia, Melonin Noumonvi, France and Amer Hrustanovic, Austria and a loss to Alan Chugajew

Explanations

• all competitions in Greco-Roman style
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship
• Welterweight, until 2001 up to 76 kg, middle weight, until 2001 up to 85 kg, since 2002 up to 84 kg, light heavyweight, until 2001 up to 97 kg, since 2002 up to 96 kg body weight

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer
• Website "Foeldeak Wrestling database"

Web links

• Karam Ibrahim in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Portrait of Karam Mohammed Ibrahim Gaber in English