Henry Cejudo gave the United States its first wrestling gold at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday with a clinical victory over Japanese
Tomohiro Matsunaga in men's 55kg freestyle wrestling here on Tuesday.
Cejudo, who finished 31st in last year's world championships, became the first American to win a men's freestyle wrestling gold in 16 years as a son of undocumented Mexican immigrants.
He 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."
Russian
Mavlet Batirov won the 60kg freestyle gold, to become the fourth Russian wrestling gold medallist in Beijing, joining three Greco-Roman wrestlers.
"When I said in Athens after winning that I dedicate my gold to my father, my mother joked that I have to dedicate my next one to her. So I dedicate this gold to her," said Batirov.
"This is my second Olympic gold medal. I felt better in the 60kg here than when I won in Athens 2004. It felt easier. The competition was over so fast."
Another Russian
Besik Kudukhov scored with three single-leg takedowns to defeat twice world champion
Dilshod Mansurov of Uzbekistan 2-0.
Besides Matsunaga's silver, Japan also got one bronze from Kenichi Yumoto in 60kg category. Yumoto scored from the clinch and then added two low single-leg attacks to defeat Bazar Bazarguruev of Kyrgyzstan 2-0 in the bronze medal match.
Another 55kg bronze went to 2006 world champion
Radoslav Velikov of Bulgaria while Iranian Seyedmorad Mohammadi won the other 60kg bronze.
Henry Cejudo Wins Wrestling Gold for the U.S. 
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