American Victory

Olympic Gold Medalist Henry Cejudo has written a book with author Bill Plaschke about his 2008 victory and the path leading up to that. It is called American Victory: Wrestling, Dreams, and a Journey Toward Home and is scheduled to be release in Jan 2010.

Cejudo has a pretty amazing story. According to the Wikipedia entry for Cejudo, he “captured four high school wrestling state championship (two in Colorado, two in Arizona). He was awarded (the title) ASICS National High School Wrestler of the Year (2006).” After high school, he began training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. After that … Olympic Gold.

His book is scheduled to be released on January 5, 2010. Here is the product description from Amazon.com:

“Henry Cejudo’s remarkable journey follows an unlikely hero from the mean streets of South Central L.A. to the glory of the Beijing Olympics. The first American in sixteen years and the youngest American ever to win the gold medal in this event, Henry’s grit, passion, and resolve on display in China was a culmination of a life spent fighting- both on and off the mat.

Henry was born into a world devoid of stability, a world of tiny apartments and empty refrigerators, his mother on the run from immigration; the youngest of six kids, he had to fight for everything. Until he joined the U.S. Olympic team, he had never had his own bed, never even had a pillow.

American Victory is Henry’s poignant and powerful memoir of growing up in a segment of the American population that is too often overlooked and underestimated, and how he rose above the statistics and the dangers to become a winner-a hero who embodies all that’s best and most hopeful in the American dream.”

You can pre-order your copy of American Victory: Wrestling, Dreams, and a Journey Toward Home now!