COLORADO SPRINGS — An improbable Olympic gold medal turned Henry Cejudo into a wrestling superstar, fattened his pocketbook and paved the way for a whirlwind tour across the globe.
If he wins again, he would join elite company. Only three American wrestlers — Bruce Baumgartner, John Smith and the late George Mehnert — have multiple Olympic golds.
“I want to be like a rapper,” Cejudo said Tuesday. “I want to have bling everywhere.”
The Coronado High School graduate plans to begin his quest next month, when he heads back to the wrestling room after a year of living like a celebrity in relishing his victory at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Chances are Cejudo, selected to light the torch for Thursday’s opening ceremony of the State Games of America at World Arena, will jump a weight class in preparation for the 2012 London Games, figuring his aggressive style can work at 132 pounds.
Cejudo, 22, last wrestled in Beijing, where he netted three come-from-behind wins before beating Japan’s Tomohiro Matsunaga in the gold-medal match at 121 pounds to become the youngest Olympic wrestling champion in U.S. history and secure $65,000 in contractual bonuses.
Since then, he has grossed more than $100,000 from appearances on national TV shows and a stint on a Japanese game show. His wrestling shoe hit stores this month, and his autobiography, “American Victory,” is scheduled to be released in January. He’s still hopeful for a movie by the makers of “High School Musical.”
In recent months, Cejudo has visited Iran, Costa Rica and Mexico, and attended functions in New York and Miami, meeting Oscar De La Hoya and Donald Trump.
“I had a chance to really travel the world, and I witnessed a lot of things,” said Cejudo, now living in his hometown Phoenix. “It’s truly a dream. I feel like I’m still dreaming.”
Cejudo nearly has recovered from nagging neck and lower-back injuries that deterred him from trying for the world championships in September. He could return for the Sunkist International Open in October — a decent tune-up for a World Cup in March and the Pan American Championship in April.
He said he won’t enter a competition “until I’m 110 percent. Anything less, I won’t do it because I hate second place. . . . I’m going to be rusty, and I might take some losses. But I’m going to see the big picture, like I did the last four years, and go after the gold.”
The idea of moving from underdog to favorite motivates Cejudo.
“For my opponents, some of them fear you, but some of them drive off fear,” he said. “It’s going to be harder. People want to wrestle you. I understand I’m a target, and I’ve got to make sure they don’t hit the target.”
