Michel Nakouzi

The peak of Michel Nakouzi’s wrestling career came at the 1959 Mediterranean Games, when he won a silver medal for Lebanon in the Greco-Roman bantamweight division, behind Egypt’s Kamel El-Sayed. The following year he was selected to represent his country in that event at the 1960 Rome Olympics, where he was eliminated in round four. In 1988 it is likely that he was entered as an athlete to get an extra official for Lebanon, although he did not start.

Nakouzi’s true passion, however, was martial arts, and in 1967 he helped found the Lebanese Federation for Judo and Karate. From the 1970s through the 2000s, he served in administrative roles in the federation and its successors, as well as regionally in taekwondo, and he was part of Lebanon’s administrative delegations to international championships for many years. He also worked to increase the sport’s popularity in his country and served as a coach.