Henry Cejudo

Henry Cejudo (born February 9, 1987 in San Jose, California) is a freestyle wrestler, Olympic gold medalist, mixed martial artist and author. Henry became an Olympic gold medalist at just 21 years old, the youngest American wrestler to win a gold medal.

Personal life

Cejudo, the youngest of six children, was born on February 9, 1987, in South Central Los Angeles, California, to Mexican parents. Cejudo’s father, who was frequently in and out of the California penal system, was absent from Henry’s life starting at a young age. In 1991, Henry’s mother made the decision to move to Las Cruces, New Mexico, to raise her six young children on her own. She frequently had to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. As a result, Henry’s early childhood was spent moving from state to state, until his family finally settled in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Cejudo children were raised in some of the poorest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, Las Cruces, and Phoenix. All six children slept on the floor and often did not know where their next meal would come from. Motivated by the hardships of his childhood, Henry immersed himself in school and athletics. Although the odds were stacked against him, he used wrestling to keep him out of trouble. Henry’s brother, Angel, introduced him to the sport of wrestling. From the beginning he was determined to prove himself to the world and to the father that he never really knew. Driven by desire, Henry was focused on winning the World and Olympic championships.

Henry and his brother dominated the competition while attending high school. Impressed by their accomplishments, the national developmental freestyle coach for USA Wrestling invited both Angel and Henry to attend the resident freestyle program at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Henry completed his education while attending the program. Upon graduation, he took the bold and highly unusual road to the Olympic gold, foregoing the customary route of a collegiate wrestling program. Henry began training full-time at the Olympic Training Center to prepare for the 2008 Summer Olympics. He then went on to represent the U.S.A. in the Beijing Olympics and brought home the gold. Henry not only achieved his dream of becoming an Olympic champion, but also made history by becoming the youngest American wrestler to ever win an Olympic gold medal.

Wrestling Career

Henry captured four high school wrestling state championships (two in Colorado, two in Arizona). He was awarded (the title) ASICS National High School Wrestler of the Year (2006).

He participated in two Junior World Championships, placing fifth in 2005 and second in 2006. That same year, Henry became the first high schooler to win U.S. Nationals since USA Wrestling's formation as the sport's national body in 1983. Cejudo decided to skip wrestling at the college level and instead accepted an offer from USA wrestling to train at their main facilities in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Henry won the Pan American Championships in March 2008. Henry Cejudo is the youngest of seven siblings including Angel Cejudo four time state champ at Maryvale High School (Phoenix, Arizona).

 2008 Beijing Olympics

Henry qualified for the Olympics in the 55 kg, (121 pound) weight class. He entered the competition in the Round of 16. In his first round match, against Bulgaria's Radoslav Velikov, Henry lost the first period, 2-1, and was forced to win both of the remaining periods to win the match.

In the quarterfinals, Henry faced Georgian wrestler Besarion Gochashvilli and again lost the first period, but bounced back to win the last two periods to advance.

In the semifinals, Henry again was forced to win the last two periods but did so for the third time in the tournament, defeating Azerbaijani wrestler Namig Sevdimov to advance to the gold medal match.

For the gold medal match, Cejudo faced Japanese wrestler Tomohiro Matsunaga and, for the first time in the tournament, was able to win the first two periods which secured the gold medal.

 2012 Olympic Trials

After losing in the 2012 Olympic Trials, Henry Cejudo removed his shoes on the mat and threw them out into the crowd, officially retiring from wrestling. Immediately at the end of the match he lost, the crowd of fans in the arena rose in a standing ovation to recognize his achievements. As he removed his shoes, the roar of applause grew and continued to rise as he left the mat.

Mixed martial arts career

On Jan. 30, 2013, Cejudo announced on his twitter page that he plans to begin training for a career in MMA. Despite wrestling at 121 pounds during his wrestling career, Cejudo plans to fight at 135 pounds in his MMA debut planned for late March or early April. He defeated Michael Poe by submission due to punches in his MMA debut at a World Fighting Federation event on March 2, 2013.^[