Karam Gaber's gold medal in Athens was the seventh in Egyptian Olympic history. Mohamed El-Sayed reviews the big ones Egyptians still cannot quite believe what they saw last month -- one of their own taking the podium to receive a gold medal in an Olympics. But there he was -- all 96 kilos of him -- the shaven head and baby face of Karam Gaber on TV, the gold medal won in Graeco-Roman wrestling. It was indeed a rare sight for it was the first time in over 50 years that the Egyptian anthem had been played at an Olympic Games -- since Mahmoud Fayyad's gold medal in weightlifting in 1948 in London. Gaber's gold upped the country's overall gold medals in Olympic history to seven: El-Sayed Noseir and Ibrahim Mustafa (Amsterdam 1928); Khidr El-Touni, Anwar Misbah (Berlin 1936); Ibrahim Shams, Mahmoud Fayyad (London 1948); and Karam Gaber (Athens 2004). Shams and Gaber won gold in Graeco-Roman wrestling while the rest were weightlifters. Gaber's gold invoked the memory of Egypt's long forgotten gold medallists in the 108-year history of the modern Games. Egypt's first gold medal was that of the weightlifter Noseir in Amsterdam after lifting a total of 335.5kg in the light heavyweight category. Noseir's talent emerged in his childhood in the fields of Tanta. Belonging to a rural family, he used to load heavy cotton sacks on camels, then watched how camels rose with the load -- almost the same technique used in the snatch event in weightlifting. At Tanta Secondary School Noseir excelled in gymnastics before turning to weightlifting after being influenced by one of the city's most famous weightlifters, Abdel-Halim Bik El-Misri, who starred in shows of strength in the moulid or festivals of El- Sayed El-Badawi. He then went to Ahli Club in Cairo where he trained with famed coach Mohamed Bassiouni. Noseir's winning of Egypt's first medal 32 years after the first modern-day Olympics prompted the Arab poet laureate Ahmed Shawqi to write a poem about the achievement. The second gold medallist was Ibrahim Mustafa who won in Graeco-Roman wrestling in the same Olympics. He defeated a German wrestler in the final match, sparking shouts from the spectators in the seats: "Mustafa, Mustafa". At eight, Mustafa worked in a carpenter shop in Alexandria. Sitting on the roof, he used to watch athletes training in athletics and wrestling in the nearby Al-Gomruk Club that was limited to the Armenian community. Having learned the rules and techniques of the sport simply by watching, Mustafa began practicing with his friends on the streets. Afterwards, he joined the Olympic Club in Alexandria before taking part in the national championship. Having won several local championships, he was then selected to represent Egypt in the Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Surprisingly, after returning from Amsterdam with the gold, Mustafa could not find a job until an Alexandrian official made him an office boy so that he could brag about him to visitors. The newspapers got wind of this, asking that a respectable job be given to this Olympic icon. As a result, he was appointed a coach in the Olympic Club. Most critics agree that Khidr El-Touni's gold was Egypt's most significant. El-Touni was the greatest weightlifter in Egypt -- perhaps in history. Until recently he was at the top of the list of history's 50 greatest weightlifters issued by the International Weightlifting Federation. It was only in the 1996 Games in Atlanta that Turkey's Naim Suleymanoglu surpassed the Egyptian to top the list. El-Touni's gold medal in Berlin 1936 came after he defeated two German world champions at the time on their home soil, breaking the then Olympic and world records. Not only did El-Touni break the world records -- it took 13 years before the records would be broken -- but he continued to compete -- with himself -- for 45 minutes until the difference between the weight he had lifted and that of the German silver medallist had reached 35kg -- an outstanding feat in this highly competitive sport. The 20-year-old El-Touni lifted a total of 387.5kg while the German lifted 352.5kg. Every time El-Touni succeeded in lifting a weight, he was forced to increase it because the German audience wanted to enjoy watching such a human miracle for as long as possible. They also watched him on TV as this was the first time for the Olympics to be broadcast. Lore has it that Adolf Hitler, who was watching from the stands, told El-Touni while awarding him the gold medal: "Egypt should be proud of you... I hope you consider Germany your second home." In recognition of his achievement, one of the streets of the Olympic Village in Berlin was named after El-Touni. El-Touni could have taken part in the next two Games but World War II put an end to any repeat El-Touni hoped for. El-Touni began practicing the sport at a young age along with the students of Shobra School. One day, they placed two stones weighing 40kg each on a broomstick. No-one could lift it except El-Touni. After winning the gold in Berlin all what El- Touni received as a bonus was a LE1,000 policy in addition to a free pass from the tramway company. El-Touni cashed in the policy in 1953 and built a house in Helwan, but died soon afterwards from an electric shock while fixing the house's lighting. Misbah Anwar is fourth on the golden list. He won in weightlifting in the 1936 Berlin Games. Anwar, who was in the lightweight category, lifted the same weight as did the second-placed Austrian but won the gold because his weight was less than his competitor. The Austrian team protested, asking for a gold for their player, who in the end was awarded a duplicate gold. The Games were stopped following World War II, then resumed in 1948 in London. Again, Egyptian weightlifters continued to add medals to the golden tally. The weightlifter Ibrahim Shams won the gold medal in the 1948 London Games. Shams had been locked in a fierce battle with his countryman Atia Mohamed. After finishing their nine trials, Shams took the gold because his weight was 25 grammes less than Mohamed. Born in Alexandria, Shams won the gold medal in weightlifting at the relatively old age of 34. He died at 84. Having won a bronze in Berlin 1936, Egyptian critics put Shams second after El-Touni in fame since he was the only Egyptian to have won more than one medal at an Olympics. The sixth gold was garnered by Mahmoud Fayyad who won in weightlifting in London 1948. Fayyad lifted a total of 332.5kg, 15kg more than the silver medallist Rodney Wilkins of England. Fayyad was awarded his medal in the famous and now defunct Wembley Stadium. He retired at only 26 because an injury to his back was incorrectly diagnosed, resulting in a slipped disc. Fayyad also won two gold medals in the world championship in 1949 and 1950. Egypt would be forced to wait 56 years before getting another Olympic gold. The 56-year drought was broken by wrestler Karam Gaber in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Gaber, who was playing in the 96kg category, threw his Georgia opponent Ramaz Nozadze three times in a 12-2 rout for the gold. Gaber grew up in a family obsessed with wrestling. He started playing the sport at eight in Alexandria, going to the club to watch his father wrestle. He joined the Olympic Club in Alexandria, then was spotted by Yehya Kazarian, former head coach of the Egyptian Graeco-Roman wrestling team. Every member of Gaber's family used to save money to enable him to continue training. But when the financial burden on his family became too heavy, Gaber thought of immigrating, especially after his success in the world championship in 2002 was almost completely ignored by sports officials. Indeed, he packed his bags and left for the US to pursue a wrestling career. But after having received offers of sponsorship from Egyptian officials, he decided to return. Unlike the gold medallists of the past who won hardly anything except free public transportation rides, Gaber collected a net LE1 million in addition to prize money from businessmen. Gaber's medal increased Egypt's overall Olympic tally in history to 23: seven gold, seven silver and nine bronze medals. The country is in 46th place on the all-time medal list out of 202 countries, and it is at the head of Arab and African nations. Five of Egypt's seven gold medallists come from the country's second largest city, Alexandria. Noseir and El-Touni are from Tanta and Cairo respectively. Like most Olympians, Egypt's gold medallists come from low-income families, the absence of wealth apparently fuelling a determination to be the best.
