Ibrahim Moustafa

Ibrahim Moustafa learned to wrestle as a teenager. At his first international tournament, the Paris Olympics, he nearly won an Olympic medal, placing fourth. Four years later, the Alexandrian carpenter would win the Greco-Roman light-heavyweight division, becoming the second Egyptian Olympic champion, just days after Sayed Nosseir had become the first. On invitation of the Swedish Wrestling Federation, Moustafa toured Europe in 1929 and competed in several international tournaments, although he never competed at the World Championships. Moustafa, later a trainer at the Olympic Club in his home town, would teach wrestling to his three sons. One of them, Adel Ibrahim Moustafa, went on to compete at two Olympic Games and won a Mediterranean Games title in 1955. Egypt’s first wrestling champion is remembered by the annual Ibrahim Moustafa International Tournament.