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Henry Cejudo of US celebrates victory during the men's freestyle 55kg gold medal match at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games wrestling event in Beijing, China, Aug. 19, 2008. Henry Cejudo of US won the bout over Matsunaga Tomohiro of Japan and got the gold medal. [Xinhua]
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Henry Cejudo, a son of undocumented Mexican immigrants, became the first American to win a men's freestyle wrestling gold in 16 years as he won the 55kg category at the Beijing Olympic Games on Tuesday.
Cejudo, who finished 31st in last year's world championships, upset Tomohiro Matsunaga of Japan 2-0 in the final.
Cejudo scored with a high crotch to back in the first period and a big double-leg takedown to seize the win.
"This is what I said I was going to," said Cejudo, who is coming out of a Mexican-American background. "I set my goal and trained hard. I just put the pieces together, and I really believed in myself. I did it."
"It was a tough match. I just wrestled hard," he added.
Cejudo's chances were hard to judge, partly because he is just 21, and doesn't have much international experience. He opened the day defeating 2006 world champion Radoslav Velikov of Bulgaria in the round of 16.
"I'm a smarter wrestler now," he said. "I'm learning more and more about wrestling at the world-class level. I'm ready to go."