Hicham IDO

An all-around sportsman as a youth, Hicham Ido took up wrestling at the local Al-Ahly club near his home in Beirut at the age of 15. He won his first local tournament in 1951 and attended his first international one in Romania in 1953. He participated in his first World Cup tournament in 1956 in Istanbul, but did not win an international medal until the Pan Arab Games came to his hometown in 1957, where he captured Greco-Roman wrestling gold. When the Mediterranean Games arrived in Beirut in 1959, he finished fourth. His next stop was the Greco-Roman welterweight tournament at the 1960 Summer Olympics, but he was eliminated by the end of the second round, and retired from active competition soon after.

After his retirement Ido continued to work as a coach, a vocation that he had taken up while he was still a player, and his reputation in this profession quickly outstripped the fame he had garnered from his competitive career. He trained numerous World and Olympic medalists, as well as the Lebanese fire brigade and portions of the army, and eventually received a national Order of Merit. He also took up refereeing in 1960 and, in 1974, earned his international certificate, officiating at World Cup, Mediterranean, and Arab Games. He is a member of the Lebanese Wrestling Union and, as of 2008, continues to be heavily involved in social work.