Henry Cejudo
Olympic champion back on the mat and ready to make a run at winning World, Olympic titles
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Henry Cejudo arrived at the
U.S. Olympic Training Center prior to his junior year of high school. Four years later, he was standing atop the podium in Beijing,
China with an Olympic gold medal hanging around his neck. He became the youngest Olympic wrestling champion in U.S.
history at age 21. He won four straight matches to win the 2008 Olympic title. Cejudo has taken the past couple of seasons off, but he’s
back training full-time at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in freestyle wrestling. He plans to be back at his old weight class of 55 kg/121 lbs.
He hopes to return to competition in time to be ready for April’s U.S. Open in Cleveland. The 24-year-old Cejudo, a 2007 U.S. World Team member, traveled with the American team to Cuba in February as he resumed his training. Cejudo took time out of his busy schedule for an interview
with USA Wrestling’s Craig Sesker. You’ve been off the mat for nearly 2½ years. Was your
plan to always come back and wrestle? Honestly, I thought I would probably come back at some
point. I just wasn’t sure when I would come back. Those four years of blood, sweat and tears I put in before Beijing with my coach, Terry Brands, I was a little drained after the Olympics. He really pushed me and drove me, and it paid off. But I just really needed a break after the Olympics. How big of a success was your book – “American
Victory” – that you did with Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke? It’s done really well. I’m very happy with how it turned out and
with how many people have bought the book. I appreciate everyone’s support. How much did you miss wrestling when you were off the
mat?
Henry Cejudo became the youngest U.S. Olympic wrestling champion in history in 2008. John Sachs photos.
I didn’t really miss it that much until last September. What
really drove me to come back was when I looked at the results from last year’s World Championships and saw how the U.S. struggled. That’s when I got the itch to come back. I felt like I could have been out there helping our country. I take a lot of pride in winning for the United States. I feel like I can still be the best in the World. Where do you think the U.S. team can improve? You look at these Russians and they are mat rats. They are
so dedicated. They practice three times a day and they are on the mat all the time. You look at (Russia’s Besik) Kudukhov and
Continued on page 8 USA Wrestler 7
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