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Olympic champ Cejudo makes rousing return
Monday, April 27th 2026

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Olympic champ Cejudo makes rousing return

(HR) ABOVE: Henry Cejudo addresses the packed audience of students, teachers and local dignitaries that turned out to see him. 2006, Coronado High School graduate Heny Cejudo made a triumphant return to Colorado Springs to his old alma mater. This was his first visit back to Colorado since capturing the gold medal in free style wrestling at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. Cejudo was a two-time Colorado State wrestling champion while attending Coronado High School. He was undefeated as Colorado prep, and is widely known as one of the greatest high school wrestlers in American history. Cejudo became the youngest American ever (21 years old) to win an Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling (55kg weight class.) To honor Cejudo's homecoming, Coronado High School held a school wide assembly in the main gym. The assembly gave students the opportunity to celebrate the gold medal performance with Henry and at the same time, allowing Coronado to honor Cejudo for his outstanding accomplishment. Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post
(HR) ABOVE: Henry Cejudo addresses the packed audience of students, teachers and local dignitaries that turned out to see him. 2006, Coronado High School graduate Heny Cejudo made a triumphant return to Colorado Springs to his old alma mater. This was his first visit back to Colorado since capturing the gold medal in free style wrestling at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. Cejudo was a two-time Colorado State wrestling champion while attending Coronado High School. He was undefeated as Colorado prep, and is widely known as one of the greatest high school wrestlers in American history. Cejudo became the youngest American ever (21 years old) to win an Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling (55kg weight class.) To honor Cejudo’s homecoming, Coronado High School held a school wide assembly in the main gym. The assembly gave students the opportunity to celebrate the gold medal performance with Henry and at the same time, allowing Coronado to honor Cejudo for his outstanding accomplishment. Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post
Helen H. Richardson
By | hrichardson@denverpost.com | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:
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COLORADO SPRINGS — Olympic wrestling champion Henry Cejudo returned to his old stomping grounds Tuesday, with his Beijing gold medal in tow for a rally at Coronado High School.

Cejudo, a former two-time state high school champ who graduated from Coronado in 2006, upset his way to a freestyle wrestling gold medal in Beijing in August.

To honor his homecoming, Coronado held a school-wide assembly in its gymnasium.

Cejudo, undefeated as a prep wrestler, later became the youngest person to win a U.S. national championship.

In the 121-pound division in Beijing, many predicted Cejudo would fail to qualify for the medal round. But he upset former World Champion Namid Sevdimov of Azerbaijan in the semifinals and Japan’s Tomohiro Matsunaga in the gold medal match.

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