Karam Ibrahim Gaber (Egyptian Arabic: كرم ابراهيم جابر, born 1 September 1979) is an Egyptian Greco-Roman wrestler. He won the gold medal in the Men's Greco-Roman 96 kg at the 2004 Summer Olympics.[1] Gaber won the silver medal at the 2003 World Championships. At the 2012 London Olympics, he won his second Olympic medal, winning a silver. He was suspended by United World Wrestling for two years in August 2015, because of a whereabouts failure during his doping test.[2] In February 2024, Gaber announced his retirement from Greco-Roman wrestling.
Gaber (first L to R) at the 2012 Summer Olympics | ||
Medal record | ||
---|---|---|
Men's Greco-Roman wrestling | ||
Representing | ||
Olympic Games
| ||
2004 Athens | 96 kg | |
2012 London | 84 kg | |
World Championships | ||
2002 Moscow | 96 kg | |
2003 Créteil | 96 kg | |
Mediterranean Games | ||
2001 Tunis | 97 kg | |
2005 Almería | 96 kg | |
1997 Bari | 97 kg |
Career
editGaber won at the 2004 Olympics Greco-Roman finals[3] with a gap of 12 points (12–1), having competed against Ramaz Nozadze of Georgia who won the silver and Mehmet Özal of Turkey, whom Gaber defeated in the semifinals with 11 points (11–0). Gaber won the second gold medal for Egypt in Greco-Roman wrestling, the other being from the 1928 Summer Olympics.[citation needed]
Gaber competed in a mixed martial arts match against Kazuyuki Fujita (Greco-Roman Wrestling) at K-1's Dynamite event on 31 December 2004.[4]
Gaber was Egypt's flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, although he failed to qualify for the quarter finals in Beijing. He won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[5]
In 2015, Gaber was a favorite to win another world gold at the 2016 Olympics with long time personal coach Jakob Panotas, until Gaber was suspended by United World Wrestling for two years in August 2015 due to a "whereabouts failure" during a miss call/location for his doping test.[6]
In February 2024, he announced his retirement due to an injury which prevented him from competing at the African Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament for the 2024 Summer Olympics.[7]
Mixed martial arts record
edit1 match | 0 wins | 1 loss |
By knockout | 0 | 1 |
By submission | 0 | 0 |
By decision | 0 | 0 |
Draws | 0 | |
No contests | 0 |
Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 0–1 | KO (punch) | K-1 PREMIUM 2004 Dynamite!! | 31 December 2004 | 1 | 1:07 |
References
edit- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Karam Gaber". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.
- ^ "Egypt's best-ever Olympian Karam Gaber in twilight of troubled career - Ahram Online". english.ahram.org.eg. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
- ^ "Sisi stresses full support of medal-winning athletes". 17 August 2021.
- ^ Snowden, Jonathan. "13 MMA and UFC Olympic Gold Medalists and Those Who Fell Short". Bleacher Report.
- ^ "London 2012 – Wrestling – Men's 84 kg Greco-Roman". www.olympic.org. IOC. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
- ^ "Anti-doping Rules Violations" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
- ^ "Egypt's Olympic hero Karam Gaber retires from wrestling". KingFut. 27 February 2024.