As you may have noticed by now, I’ve turned into quite the Olympics junkie. I just can’t get enough of the stuff. This morning I wrote about the Brit who won a gold medal in sailing by purposefully delaying his closest competitor. Last week, we heard the story of Oksana Chusovitina, who became the world’s oldest Olympic gymnast in an effort to save her son from cancer.
Now there is Henry Cejudo, who just became the youngest American to ever win gold in wrestling:
[Cejudo’s mother] Nelly Rico, who came to the United States from Mexico as an illegal immigrant, raised seven children by herself and left Los Angeles with them in the middle of the night to escape the criminal who was the father Cejudo never really knew.Rico does not like flying, so she watched her son’s Olympics on a laptop back in Colorado Springs. She vomited three times — one for each period her son lost in the three matches leading to the finals.
His right eye bruised and darkened, Cejudo talked of all the hours his mom worked over the years, as a janitor and a construction worker, anything to put food on the table or to heat the house. He talked about all the times they moved, from Los Angeles to New Mexico to Phoenix to Colorado Springs, each time in search of a better life.
“I wish I could just give her the medal right now,” Cejudo said.
A mother’s love. As these Olympics testify, it can lead both mother and son to the greatest of heights.
