Ibrahim Saleh represented Egypt at the 1938 World Weightlifting Championships, but was unfortunately at the peak of his career during World War II, when the conflict limited his ability to train and compete. Nonetheless, he remained strong enough to be selected to represent Egypt in the light-heavyweight category at the 1948 London Olympics. At the Games, he placed 11th out of 16 competitors. After coming in second at the 1950 Egyptian national championships, he switched to the middle-heavyweight division and had much more success, winning gold at the inaugural 1951 Mediterranean Games and silver at the year’s World Championships, behind Norb Schemansky of the United States. After defending his national title in 1952, Saleh travelled to Helsinki to compete at that year’s Olympics and just missed the podium by placing fourth. He was again second behind Schemansky at the 1953 World Championships and also took silver at the 1955 Mediterranean Games prior to retiring from active competition.
Egypt