Justin Lester – 66 KG – Greco-Roman Wresting – Image copyright KnoxNews
This is a photo of nephew, Justin Lester. Tomorrow he is wrestling the Olympics. It has been, truly, his life-long dream to wrestle in the olympics. He was born in 1983, about a year before I left Akron, OH. He is the youngest child of my oldest brother, Fred Jr. If I remember correctly, he started wrestling in elementary school, carried it all the way through high school, was state champion 2 or 3 times and wanted to be in the olympics, wrestling freestyle. Later, he got tired of freestyle and changed to Greco-Roman.
8 years ago, he tried for the Olympics and missed. 4 years ago, he tried again, and missed by one position. This time, he tried again and made it. Tomorrow night, if all goes well, he will wrestle for the gold! He has to make it through qualifying rounds, a group of 16, 4, then 2. If he makes it all the way, he will wrestle for the gold in the evening.
I’ve been following him on Twitter (@LesterToLondon) and he seems very much pumped up and ready! I’m so proud of him. Talk about an undying spirit. Wanting to be in the olympics since grade school, now 28 years old and finally there. An ‘overnight’ success! LOL
He said on one of his tweets that he doesn’t need wishes of ‘luck’ because he’s done the training and is ready; however, I’ll say it anyway, good luck nephew! Bring home that gold!!!
I wish that I could say that I taught him everything he knows, but in truth, with being so far away, I rarely got to see him and only saw him wrestle on video, but I’m still very proud of his effort!
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Wow, that’s great news Paul…proud you should be. I’ll be watching and cheering for him. May there be “Gold” in his future!
Thanks, Earl. I hope that I get to see him wrestle! NBC hasn’t been doing an exactly stellar job of televising certain things!
I was wondering what his status was since you mentioned he’d made the team. And, you have the rights to be a proud uncle. I’m cheering him on, also!
Monte Stevens recently posted..I Also Apologize
Thanks, Monte! He’s got lots of supporters and could certainly use more!
When I saw the thumbnail in my RSS feed I though “Damn, Paul’s Tai Chi is really paying dividends” and then I saw it wasn’t you. I did have a good laugh about it
He’s a champion just for making it to the Olympics because that is no small feat. I hope we get to see it over here but our coverage of the Games is poor. Though if he wrestles an Aussie we will have a good chance of seeing it. Of course in that scenario I will be so confused as to who to root for. Nuh, just kidding, I always back the people I know or the people that the people I know know. Confused? I’ll be cheering for Justin and I’ll be thinking of you Paul. All the best to him.
Cedric Canard recently posted..Things are never as they seem
I got a great laugh out of that one, Cedric. It was a wonderful way to start the morning! If Tai Chi were that effective, I don’t think that there would be any room in any of our classes – Get Ripped! Look 25 years younger – Make it to the Olympics – Tai Chi does it all!!!
As for if NBC will actually show it, I know that they are not showing the qualifying rounds, only the gold medal round. Many people are upset about their delays and choices of which sports to show, so much show that there is a twitter hash tag, #nbcfail.
By the way Paul, be sure to tweet when he’s on. If I’m up, I’ll check the TV.
Cedric Canard recently posted..Things are never as they seem
Justin’s first match was in the round of 16. He got a ‘bye’ for the round of 32. He won his first match, against Japan, 3-1. Next match in about 10 minutes!
Round of 8 vs. Hungary!