American Victory

"Compelling...American Victory represents the triumph of the human spirit." --Los Angeles Times

Henry Cejudo's remarkable journey follows an unlikely hero, the son of illegal immigrants, from the mean streets of South Central LA to the glory of the Beijing Olympics. The first American in sixteen years to win the gold medal in freestyle wrestling and the youngest American gold medalist ever in this event, Henry's grit, passion, and resolve on display in China was a culmination of a life spent fighting-both on and off the mat. American Victory is his poignant and powerful memoir of how he rose above the statistics and dangers to become a winner-and a hero that embodies all that's best and most hopeful in the American dream.Henry Cejudo is a wrestler and mixed martial artist whose journey is chronicled in American Victory: Wrestling, Dreams and a Journey Toward Home. He won the Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing games, and was the second youngest wrestler to ever win the gold. 

Bill Plaschke is a Los Angeles Times sports columnist and author whose books include I Live for This!: Baseball’s Last True Believer and American Victory: Wrestling, Dreams and a Journey Toward Home. Plaschke has been named national sports columnist six times, as well as Man of the Year by the Los Angeles Big Brothers/Big Sisters.