Olympic gold medalist Daniel Igali is recovering in his native Nigeria after a violent robbery that left him with three slash wounds to the neck.

The wrestler, who represented Canada in the Sydney Games in 2000 and in Athens in 2004, ran unsuccessfully for the Liberals in B.C.'s provincial election last year. He had been spending more time in the west African country where he was born.

Friends say he had been working to build and staff a school in Enwari, a remote community in the state of Bayelsa. He had also been maintaining a home in Yenagoa, the state capital, and Canadian friends said he felt well regarded enough there that he did not worry for his safety.

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"He's so highly respected in Yenagoa," said Joel Gordon, who directed the documentary Wrestling with Destiny, about Igali. "Everywhere he goes people are shaking his hand. He's a celebrity there, probably the biggest apart from the politicians. I'm sure that he would never have fathomed that people in that town would do something like that to him."

Mike Jones, one of his coaches, said Igali, of Burnaby, B.C., had such a capable air that he didn't invite concern.

"I don't think he ever feared for his safety," Jones said from Port Coquitlam, B.C. "His personality is just [that of]such a confident guy that you just don't worry about him."

Gordon, who spent time in Nigeria during the filming of the documentary, said he was struck by the number of people who went to Igali for help.

"He's pretty down to earth and lives fairly modestly among the people," Gordon said Wednesday night. "Anyone in the community can just walk up to his house, there's no security, and tap on his door to ask for money."

Gordon said he had not talked to Igali directly about the attack but had spoken to someone who had. He said it was in the evening, around the time locals would ask for help, that the robbers turned up at the door. They were inside the house before it became clear it was a robbery attempt. With several of Igali's siblings in another room, a fight broke out as the thieves attempted to rob the wrestler.

According to reports, the men made off with cash and possessions worth the equivalent of about $9,000.

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Igali described the attack in an interview published by the Nigerian newspaper Daily Sunsport.

"My life is in danger," he is reported to have said. "I would have been killed. I am no longer safe in Bayelsa State. They threatened to waste me. I was stabbed at the back of my neck and beaten up with the butts of their guns. They collected everything from me - phones, laptops and cash."

Gordon confirmed the broad description in the report, saying that Igali appeared to be okay after spending a night in hospital.

Igali is an Ijaw tribesman from the Nigerian town where he has built the school. He grew up in poverty, one of 21 siblings from his father's four wives. He was among a group of Nigerians who applied for refugee status in August, 1994, after competing in the Commonwealth Games in Victoria.

In 2000 he won gold for Canada. Four years later, a year after undergoing a spinal fusion, he went to Athens in an attempt to defend his title. He finished sixth.