Following in the footsteps of his brother Safi, Khalil Taha took up wrestling at the age of 14. He began taking it more seriously while working as a fireman in 1948, however, when his brother competed in the featherweight, Greco-Roman division at that year’s Olympics. Khalil competed as a welterweight Greco-Roman wrestler and won a silver medal in that event at the inaugural 1951 Mediterranean Games, behind Egypt’s Adel Ibrahim Moustafa. Both brothers represented Lebanon at the 1952 Helsinki Games, but it was Khalil who become Lebanon’s second Olympic medalist by taking bronze in his event, shortly after Zakaria Chihab had become the first by capturing silver as a bantamweight.
Khalil took gold at the 1953 Pan Arab Games, but then moved to the United States in 1955, again following in the footsteps of his brother. After winning American championships in 1956 and 1957, he turned to coaching and held numerous positions at the national and club level. In 2005 he was inducted into the Amateur Athletic Union Hall of Fame.
Lebanon