Maryvale Scores A Gold
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
by Man Eegee
A great story out of the Beijing Olympics regarding former Maryvale High Panther Henry Cejudo.
BEIJING (AP) -- Henry Cejudo, the 21-year-old prodigy who had competed in only one world-level senior tournament before Beijing, won the gold medal Tuesday at Olympic freestyle 55-kilogram wrestling.
Cejudo, crying the moment the match ended and wrapping himself in an American flag, defeated Tomohiro Matsunaga of Japan 2-2 on tiebreaker and 3-0 in the best-of-three match. Cejudo was 31st in last year's world championships, his only prior tournament at this level.
Cejudo, the son of undocumented Mexican aliens who bypassed a college career to try to become an Olympian, assures of the United States of winning a freestyle wrestling gold for the ninth consecutive Olympics at which it has competed.
