Henry Cejudo is why they hold the Olympics

BEIJING -- You travel 6,257 miles in search of Olympic moments, and what happens?

The Olympic moments find you.

It happens every two years, and it happened again Tuesday afternoon as I sat in the Tribune office here, prepared to write a column about the U.S. women’s soccer team.

Kevin Baxter, another Times writer, suddenly popped up from the printer and began waving a piece of paper in my face.

“Hey, you going over to the wrestling match?’’ he said.

"What wrestling match?" I said.

"It’s the Los Angeles-born son of two undocumented Mexican immigrants wrestling for a gold medal," he said. "It says here he just qualified for the finals in two hours."

At that point, I had never heard of Henry Cejudo. I’m guessing most of America had never heard of Henry Cejudo.

He’s a 21-year-old kid wrestler who lost in the first round of last year’s world championships, so how would anybody have heard of him?

His 121-pound Olympic competition had only started Tuesday morning, so he had to pull three upsets in about three hours to get to the final. So how could anybody have kept up with him?

That’s how it works in the Olympics. In a span of two minutes, a stranger can become a story, and you can be charged with turning anonymity into art, or something like that.

Twenty minutes earlier, I wouldn’t have known Henry Cejudo from Henry Winkler. But now that I knew him, I had to see him.

“I’m going," said Baxter, whose energy finished selling me on the story.

"OK, I’m going with you," I said.

I stopped writing the soccer story, packed up my large rolling briefcase (everyone calls me a bag lady) and boarded a bus headed for the Beijing Agricultural University Gymnasium (or, as I like to call it, Beijing A & M.).

There were only a few American reporters there. Like me, others must have missed the e-mail announcing the match. Unlike me, they didn’t have Kevin Baxter to save them.

Even before the match, I felt something special. As the loudspeaker played rock music, seemingly everyone in the arena began dancing. Even the round, stoic wrestling judges were dancing.

It was as if they knew they were about to witness something cool. And sure enough, Cejudo came out diving and grabbing and eventually throwing Tomohiro Matsunaga on his side.

I don’t understand much about wrestling scoring. But it was clear Cejudo was the aggressor, and it clearly made sense that he won the first two rounds, thus clinching the best-of-three round match.

What happened next, I never could have guessed.

Many of us watching Cejudo felt very patriotic, knowing his childhood struggles as he was raised with five siblings by a single mother who worked menial jobs from Los Angeles to Las Cruces to Phoenix.

Only in America, it seemed, could a kid grow up poor and anonymous and rise above it all to win an Olympic gold.

We knew. We had no idea that Cejudo also knew.

After winning the match, his welted face cracked into a flood of tears. He then grabbed a flag and spent the next 15 minutes using it for everything.

He buried his face in it. He wrapped his body in it. He used as a cape to flap behind him as he walked around the arena.

He cried, and clutched the flag, and cried some more, and soon some in the stands were about to cry with him.

I have never seen, in any Olympic champion, such a genuine gratitude toward America. It is, so far, my best Beijing Olympic moment.

Thank you, Henry Cejudo, for finding me.

-- Bill Plaschke

Photo: U.S. wrestler Henry Cejudo celebrates after defeating Tomohiro Matsunaga of Japan to win the gold medal in the men's 121-pound freestyle wrestling event at the Beijing Agricultural University Gymnasium on Tuesday. Credit: Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images

Comments

[Kathy Keach]

Thank you, Bill.

[Joe McVeigh]

What a great and very touching story. Reading online I had no idea who the writer was until I got to the bottom of the piece. Imagine my surprise to find it was Plaschke! There was nothing to tip this off in the story. No sarcasm, cynicism, or attempts at irony! Just a nicely told and heartfelt story. Thanks, Bill. How about finding out some more about this guy and letting us know?

Joe McVeigh
Middlebury, Vermont

[K]

AMAZING!

[Jaime Estrada]

Wow, far the best Olympic Moment for me as well, I like to see it on TV.

[John L]

Wait, Plaschke wrote this? Well played, sir. The son of undocumented immigrants fights his way to a gold medal, sounds like a Lifetime TV movie - it's great to know it can actually happen! Oh, and Lou Dobbs is probably foaming at the mouth right now.

[jesse zuniga]

We need more people like him, I am mexican too, and proud of him. I love wrestling. Most immigrants just come and join gangs. My hats off to the true American dreamers! I truly am inspired to see how he gripped the flag and carried it around proudly ! What a great story!!!

[jesse zuniga]

I agree Kathy this should be given some airtime on TV.. It is a story to inspire more to follow in his footsteps a definite inspirational story.

[Janie Flores]

Thank you so much Bill for your wonderful and inspiring story. I hope they show the repeats of this moment on TV tonight. I am so proud to be a Mexican in America!

[Jay Peitzer]

I agree completely. For me the best story so far has been Stephanie Brown Trafton. She wasn't drafted onto the national team as a child she's married works part time and is self trained and she won the first gold medal for the US track team in Beijing. She competes for the love of sport what more could you ask. She and Henry Cajudo are my heroes of the games so far. There are so many smaller non commercial sports that have so much to offer. Glad to see a big sports guy finding something out of the ordinary to write about.

[Michael Rivera]

Thank you very much for sharing this moment with us. I finished reading the article all misty eyed. It is always exciting when champions become bigger stars. But when the common athlete achieves that Olympic dream it becomes a victory for all of us. Thanks, Michael Rivera

[Josie]

What an awesome story. We have actually have been following him because he went to school across my parents house. He also wrestled against one of our friends' kids. He is a great inspiration. His old HS was having a great old celebration yesterday.