[Vision2020] Just Another Offspring of One of Them Illegals

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (August 20, 2008) Spokesman Review -

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Made in America 
Cejudo, son of undocumented immigrants, wins gold

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USA's Henry Cejudo, left, overcame a troubling childhood to win a 
freestyle wrestling gold medal at 55 kilograms.
http://tinyurl.com/5du3kf

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BEIJING – He wrapped himself in the flag almost as though he had been born 
in it.

Born in the USA.

Henry Cejudo, the son of undocumented immigrants from Mexico, is a 
documented gold medalist, America's first in freestyle wrestling at the 
2008 Olympics.

"I don't want to let it go," Cejudo said as he tugged at a flag that flew 
like a star-spangled cape as he raced around in tears and triumph after 
winning the 121-pound division Tuesday night over Japan's Tomohiro 
Matsunaga. "I might sleep with this.

"This is cool, coming out of a Mexican-American background. It just feels 
so good. Not many Americans get to do something like this. I feel like I'm 
living the American dream."

After years of sleeping four and five to a bed and sometimes not certain 
where he would sleep at all in a journey from Los Angeles to New Mexico to 
Phoenix and Colorado, Cejudo finally arrived at a destination, the one 
place, he was certain he would occupy. The medal stand's top pedestal was 
as much of an ambition as it was a dream. Only there would Cejudo finally 
be comfortable.

"I always knew I was going to be here," said Cejudo, who defeated 
Matsunaga with a 2-2 tiebreaker in the first period and then 3-0 in a best-
of-3 match after winning three bouts within about 90 minutes earlier in 
the day. "I watched the Olympics as a kid, and I just knew it.
 
"Yeah, it was tough. But, man, is it worth it."

The tough part, perhaps, was just overcoming the uncertainties of a young 
life with a troubled, mostly absent father and never far from streets full 
of more potential mayhem than meals.

"He has done an unbelievable job coming from the environment he came 
from," said Terry Brands, his coach at the Olympic Training Center in 
Colorado Springs, Colo. "He grew up in Maryvale, Ariz. He could be in 
prison. Could be a drug runner. Could be this, could be that. He's done an 
unbelievable job of not being a victim."

He has, in part because he and his brothers are sick of the questions 
about where and how they grew up.

"Yeah, I'm getting a little tired of it, to tell you the truth" said Angel 
Cejudo, a four-time Arizona high school state champion who was his 
brother's training partner in Beijing. "It's Phoenix. Not Compton. Not 
Detroit. It's not that bad. We just didn't have much."

What they had was a mom, Nelly Rico. She often worked two jobs and kept 
her sons in church and off the streets.

"Going to church was more important than going to wrestling practice," 
said Henry, who fell to his knees, put his bruised face onto the mat and 
seemed to pray while celebrating his victory at the China Agricultural 
University Gymnasium.

Nelly Rico wasn't in Beijing to see her 21-year-old son become the 
youngest American wrestler to win a freestyle gold. There had been plans 
for her to make the trip. Another Cejudo brother, Alonzo, and a sister, 
Gloria, were there. So was Frank Saenz, Henry's former high school coach 
who wore a black-and-gold Maryvale High School wrestling shirt and sobbed 
when Cejudo won by overpowering Matsunaga with three points in the second 
period.

They cheered so loudly and were on their feet so often during the match 
that Chinese security threatened to throw them out of the building.

"We didn't want that to happen," Alonzo said. "But, hey, he's your 
brother, man. What are you gonna do?

Henry said his mom stayed in the United States to care for Angel's child 
in Colorado Springs, where he and Angel have been living and training for 
the last few years. There were other reports from Olympic officials that 
she could not get into China because of passport problems. She is not a 
U.S. citizen.

"She is a resident," Henry said, somewhat cryptically.

Cejudo's mom is from Mexico City. She and Henry's dad, Jorge, moved as 
undocumented immigrants to Los Angeles, where Henry was born in 1987. His 
dad was in and out of California jails. When Henry was 4, his parents 
split. He saw his father only one more time before his dad died about 16 
months ago from reported heart failure in Mexico City.

"Our mom protected us from a lot of stuff," Angel said. "She just never 
talked about anything bad that ever happened."

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Give us your poor, your tired, your potential gold medal Olympians.

God bless America (and Moscow).

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college 
students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."

- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)


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