Cejudo's style, skill carry him to wrestling gold

BEIJING • Take a load of aggression, and mix in just as much skill and plenty of smarts.

That's Henry Cejudo's recipe for an Olympic wrestling gold medal.

The Coronado High School graduate frustrated Japan's Tomohiro Matsunaga with constant leg grabs and persistent defense Tuesday to win the 121-pound men's freestyle gold-medal match at the Beijing Games.

Cejudo and Matsunaga, a gold medalist at the 2008 Asian Championships and fifth-place finisher at the 2007 world championships, were tied 2-2 after the first period but Cejudo won the period since his two-point exposure outweighed Matsunaga's one-point scores.

In the second, Cejudo grabbed a 3-0 lead on a takedown in which he twisted Matsunaga and drove him to his back, then withstood several of Matsunaga's attacks in the final 1 minute, 48 seconds.

USA Wrestling national freestyle coach Kevin Jackson said Cejudo beat Matsunaga because he carried "his skill to the mat as opposed to just pressure. You could see he brought a lot of skill. He brought scoring opportunities, and he took advantage of them."

Cejudo attributed his winning takedown to his unorthodox style, developed with help from Jackson and his personal coach, Terry Brands, the past five years at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

"I can find a leg from anywhere, and that's what happened," Cejudo said. "I didn't even see the leg, but I ended up grabbing it. I just popped my hips and took him to his back, kept driving. I knew if I kept driving, he'd end up on his back."

Once Cejudo had a big lead, Brands said, "It was very important that he shuts him down and doesn't make the mistake, doesn't let a guy get in on a leg. ... That's the growth. We've worked very, very hard at keeping those leads, managing those leads and sealing those leads."
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