You may think that it is highly inappropriate to write about famous Egyptian bodybuilder El Shahat Mabrouk “new” world champion as this is his eight world title but this title is “new” considering the latest changes in the 2007 World Men’s Championships standings, following the final doping test results. El Shahat initially took the 3rd position but the two top bodybuilders didn’t pass the doping test and Egyptian star advanced to the position of the new world champion.
This situation already happened to Mabrouk in 2002, after the World Championships in Cairo, Egypt when he also moved up from the 3rd place to the top position. Nowadays, taking into account the IFBB Anti-doping Policy and Program, it’s not enough to be good, you must also be clean, and El Shahat Mabrouk is a real champion in this meaning.
To present his full biography we would need a few pages, so I will only summarize the top achievements of this biggest ever personality in the amateur bodybuilding. He began his international competitive career in 1981 and won his first world gold medal in 1987 at the World Championships in Madrid, Spain, placing ahead of Francis Benfatto. Then, from 1991 till 2007 he won the next seven world titles but in-between he omitted seven world championships, developing his movie career and having a three-year professional bodybuilding adventure. Does it mean that potentially he could have won 15 world titles? Maybe, taking into account he was unbeatable on the amateur bodybuilding stage at those times, winning also the overall category.
In 1999 in a poll conducted among the top 50 sport journalists in Egypt, he was awarded the title “Athlete of the Year”. They often title him “Sultan of the Muscles”.
El Shahat was born in Kafr El Sheikh, Egypt, on August 20th, 1959 and his first profession was… shoemaker. At 17, he saw bodybuilding magazines with the champions and started his weight training, which has totally changed his life. From shoemaker, through bodybuilding to the movie star. What will be his next move?
