Henry Cejudo a son of undocumented immigrants wins gold for the US in Beijing

Henry Cejudo was born in Los Angeles, 21 years ago. A Chicano man of Native heritage, his parents were Mexican undocumented immigrants, but last Tuesday August 19, Cejudo won an Olympic gold medal for the US.

Photo Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Henry Cejudo has won the gold medal in Wrestling men's 55Kg category, in the Beijing Olympic Games, thus becoming the youngest gold medalist in US wrestling history.

He grew up facing poverty and harsh living conditions, as his mother raised him and his five siblings by herself. Nelly Rico, left Mexico as a teenager and raised her six children alone, working two jobs as a janitor or a construction worker. His father had problems with the law and Henry never met him. Poverty pushed his family to move to different states as his mother searched for better job opportunities.

Photo Elizabeth Dalziel / AP

But nothing stopped Henry from succeeding. Before competing in the Olympics, he told the LA Times:

"I'm going for that yellow medal. That's the real goal," Cejudo said. "I just look at what we went through and how ha

rd we worked, how hard my mom and my family has worked and sacrificed for me and my brother. That just pushes me another notch…It's been a rocky round but it's worth it, man. It's worth everything we've done and everything [that's] happened to us."

Henry Cejudo’s career started in middle school in Phoenix, where his coach raised money to send him to tournaments, and others told him that one day he will be an Olympic champion. His older brother Angel, a wrestler also, pushed Henry to continue training, and he watched his victory in tears in Beijing.

Mark Reis, The Gazette

After the victory, his seven family members embraced him. This Native Indigenous family --who descend from undocumented immigrants in their own continent-- had American flags and shirts all over showing pride for the US.

His mother couldn’t be there, but Henry Cejudo said “I wish I could give her the medal right now”

Henry trained at the USA Wrestling program with Kevin Jackson, the national freestyle coach and a former gold medalist who said “he was the most emotional champion in recent memory.”

The Gazette, a newspaper from Colorado Spring --Henry’s current hometown posted:

With chaos a part of daily life, with a million reasons to quit, with nothing more than a glimmer of hope, Henry Cejudo never stopped believing. Suddenly, there's no doubt about him, only an Olympic gold medal around his neck.

“What Henry has accomplished is an American success story,” USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said. “This is a story of perseverance and determination. We couldn’t be more proud of Henry, not only for what he has accomplished on the mat, but for how he has represented our country.”

Photo XicanoPower

Henry Fernandez, at the Center For American Progress Action Fund wrote for Think Progress:

It has become commonplace on the right to talk about how recent immigrants, and particularly undocumented immigrants and their children, do not want to assimilate, learn English or identify themselves as truly American.

Yet this family – all of them proud to be the cheering voice of the United States in a city on the other side of the planet – did our country proud.

This amazing, cheerful and truly inspiring story, should be of reference and example for American legislators so they work to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, at once.

A slide show honoring Henry Cejudo's victory in Beijing

.

To watch a video of Cejudo's emotional victory
click in the photo