Ben Golden
BuckeyeWrestling.com
When USA Wrestling unveiled its “Living the Dream” incentive program in 2009, the organization drew up some banner ads soliciting donations to fund its monetary pledges to World and Olympic medalists. They hung a now-famous image of their only 2008 Olympic Champion in the background. They could not have made a more appropriate selection.
Henry Cejudo is wrestling’s poster child of the American Dream. Born to illegal immigrants in 1987, Cejudo grew up moving from one impoverished neighborhood to another. When he was four, his mother moved him and his five siblings from Los Angeles to Las Cruces, New Mexico. Years later, they moved to Phoenix, Arizona. When he was very young, he and his brother got involved with wrestling. Their tremendous success wrestling in Arizona earned them both an invitation out of their poor neighborhood and to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. So it was that Henry, just a 16 year old sophomore in high school, moved again.
Four years later, Henry captured the nation’s attention winning a 2008 Olympic Gold medal. At 21, he was the youngest Olympic Champion in American wrestling history.
This summer, Cejudo made the decision to move again. This time, he migrates to train for a 2012 Olympic repeat at Columbus’s Ohio Regional Training Center.
Columbus offers much a lightweight wrestler. Not the least of these offerings is Lou Rosselli, who has established himself as one of the best freestyle coaches in the nation.
In addition to a top-tier coach, Henry joins an existing All-Start “Team” of freestyle talent, with true Olympic hopefuls up and down the lineup. Cejudo aside, Ohio RTC resident athletes have combined to make seven world teams.
Heavyweights Tervel Dlagnev and Tommy Rowlands have combined to represent the United States at four of the last six World Tournaments, with Dlagnev collecting a bronze medal in 2009. Down a weight class at 96 kg, JD Bergman dominated all domestic competition in 2010, a year where he earned the John Smith Award for the nation’s top freestyler.
While three world-caliber heavyweights contribute to an atmosphere of excellence, chances are the 60 kg Cejudo will not spend much time mixing it up with guys twice his size. Around his own size, his peers will be Shawn Bunch and Reece Humphrey, won spots on the 2009 and 2011 World Teams, respectively.
Bunch and Humphrey are the post-collegiate stallions, but Cejudo will have his pick from a stable of young Buckeye colts as well. The stampede is led by redshirt freshman Logan Stieber, who has placed national senior level tournaments and World Team Trials for the last three years and won a Silver Medal at last month’s Jr. World Championships in Bucharest, Romania. Stieber’s body of work in freestyle over the last several years is the most impressive collection since Cejudo won the US Open as a high school senior.
Also scrapping partners will be senior All-American Nikko Triggas, junior Ian Paddock and a trio of promising true freshmen: Johnni DiJulius, Hunter Stieber and Cam Tessari.
After winning the Olympics, Henry took a two and a half year break from wrestling. He used the time to charge his coals of passion for the sport, pursue other interests, and enjoy the fruits that are purchased with Olympic Gold.
He toured morning shows, today shows, night shows, late night shows, sports shows, and women’s talk shows. He put his own shoe on the market, picked up endorsement contracts from companies like Coke and BMW, and wrote the story of himself in the book American Victory (with the assistance of The LA Times’ Bill Plaschke).
To stay in shape, he spent time cross-training, boxing, and flirting with a switch to MMA, but he wasn’t wrestling—at least not seriously. Sure, he toured the nation working camps and clinics, but more than two years passed where Henry did not train for competition.
In May, the Olympic Champ finally returned to action to compete at the 2011 Beat the Streets Gala, a freestyle dual meet against Russia on Time Square. He performed well, defeating Russia’s Jr. World Bronze Medalist Rasul Mashezov 2-0, 4-3.
Since the beginning of the year, Henry has wrestled between a few training locations. He first planned on moving back to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, where he trained for the 2008 games.
Months later, he announced he would train in the University of Iowa’s facility in order to be with Terry Brands, the man who coached him to Olympic Gold. Henry announced his intention, but Tom Brands later indicated in an interview with Takedown Radio that Henry and Terry had not actually discussed an arrangement. The move to Iowa never materialized.
In June, Henry gained an interest in the Ohio RTC and reached out to Head Coach Lou Rosselli, asking to attend a training camp in preparation for the World Team Trials.
Henry’s approach came as a pleasant surprise to the training center administrators. “At first we thought he was just coming in to train for a week, but at some point it became obvious that he was looking for more than just a training camp. He was looking to move here,” told RTC Executive Director Tommy Rowlands. “I think the fact that there was no solicitation on our part speaks volumes for the training environment that exists in Columbus.”
As excited as they were by the idea of bringing in such a champion, they first had to verify that taking him aboard was a financially viable option.
The RTC provides housing and a monthly stipend for each of its athletes so they can keep their full focus on training. However, the budget is limited and they had not anticipated adding another wrestler to their roster this year. “We had to make financial sense of it all as a board. We've reached out to the appropriate resources and people and feel comfortable bringing Henry on to the team.”
“On the business side, it was a calculated decision that we all feel comfortable with. On the wrestling side, it's an absolute no-brainer,” concluded Rowlands.
If Columbus is the ideal training situation for Cejudo, Henry is a perfect fit for the RTC.
The “team” is trying model itself like a true wrestling team and field a world-class wrestler at each of the seven weight classes. Cejudo will wrestle at 55 kg, which was previously a vacancy in the lineup.
In just five years, Rosselli has built the Ohio RTC into perhaps the finest freestyle training facility in the nation. Bunch, Bergman, Dlagnev and Rowlands have all claimed wins over numerous world medalists, but have won just one world medal themselves (Dlagnev won the 2009 Bronze at 120 kg). Cejudo’s arrival brings the example of one who has attained the highest success on the biggest stage.
“It's not just big talk here--we all want to win the Olympics and have realistic chances to do that,” explained Rowlands. “When you have someone training with you who's done it and a coach like Lou Rosselli who's been on the cusp of it, then you have five or six other guys who have been at that level and chased it, it creates a training environment that is simply world class.”
Moreover, the potential Cejudo brings to increase the funding and exposure of the organization is of equal importance to his athletic contributions.
Though it is already a leading freestyle hub, the RTC aspires to fund world-caliber wrestlers at all seven weights for the 2016 Olympic cycle, and must increase its financial support to bring that into reality. They hope their investment of extra funds into a proven Olympic Champion will increase exposure in the state and draw out new private and corporate donors.
“An Olympic Gold medalist has his choice to live and train anywhere he wants. The fact that he wants to make Columbus his home speaks volumes to the quality of wrestling and coaching we have,” claims Rowlands. “Obviously Henry brings a great potential to create additional visibility for us and help us raise more money.”
In addition to the tremendous value he adds to his new team, he is also likely to have a great positive impact on the lower levels of wrestling in central Ohio.
Ohio State rules prevent Henry from being present at OSU team practices, however Buckeye wrestlers are permitted to attend RTC workouts on their own time. Training with Henry is an invaluable opportunity for a handful of young, promising lightweights that are about to begin their college careers. Johnni Dijulius, Logan Stieber, Ian Paddock, Cam Tessari and Hunter Stieber are all accomplished freestylers and stand to gain much from working out with Cejudo.
"Last time he came here to train, we were very impressed with him. Not only is he focused on his skills, but he stayed after practice and worked with the other RTC guys," told Ohio State head coach Tom Ryan. "We're all going to benefit from having an Olympic Champion at the RTC."
Moreover, Henry has already shown an interest in mentoring underprivileged wrestlers from inner-city Columbus. Despite the busy-ness of training and negotiating his spot on the RTC’s roster, he cut out time in his week-long stay in Columbus to go and speak at a clinic of the local Beat the Streets club.
At the end of the day, all the parties involved stand to gain much from this move. Henry Cejudo gains one of the best lightweight freestyle coaches in the country and a slew of elite workout partners to push him. The Ohio RTC gains a highly-visible competitor to represent them on the mat. The central Ohio wrestling community gains an active role model with an inspiring story. All appears well in the calm before the Olympic storm.
Now, the work has to be done.
“We choose who represents the Ohio RTC very wisely in terms of who has the potential to reach a level in the world tournaments. We really want to blaze a trail and make a difference in the American wrestling community,” explained Rowlands. “But the United States is going to have seven Olympians whether they’re training out of the Ohio RTC or not. We need to prove that training here is the best way to go.”
Henry Cejudo – BTS/CWC – Beat the Streets/Wrestle Columbus
