Meet CJ Nickolas, the American Taekwondo Contender Who Is Fighting for Gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics – Essence

The United States is eyeing a return to the sport of taekwondo after failing to send a single male athlete to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Now, America is back, with CJ Nickolas set on not only competing, but additionally winning a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

And Nickolas got that from his mom, who he began training with when he was three. “She would take classes and she was better than me and that was it, until two years ago — I had to stop her,” Nickolas said Youth fashion“She was fighting with 18-12 months-old girls, and she or he’s 63. She got here home with bruises and stuff. I said, ‘Baby, you should calm down.’

“My mother was smart. She looked up combat sports for her child and found martial arts that are in the Olympics, where you can build a career” Santa Claus she stated. “And she found this random taekwondo school and signed me up.”

Compared to athletes who recently qualified in gymnastics and athletics, Santa Claus He’s been sitting on his messages for the last six months. But he says, “I’m really happy that everyone else is happy for me, my family, seeing how excited they are that I’m going and all the hard work that my mom put in for me and everyone that put into me, they’re just so happy for me and I’m happy that I can make them happy.”

“It was six black women and me. They raised me, and having that in my home and then being able to go to taekwondo and see the other side gave me a great sense of self-worth,” she says. Santa Claus.

With the support of his family, it’s the culmination of 20 years of labor. Last 12 months, he made headlines by becoming the first American athlete since 2009 to win a medal at the world championships. The 23-12 months-old is now the highest-ranked American Taekwondo athlete and is “the second-ranked athlete in the world in the 176-pound weight class. Additionally, Nickolas is the only American in the top 20 in taekwondo.”

“He’s one of my favourites to win gold in the welterweight division, which is my old division,” said Lutalo Muhammad, a two-time British heavyweight champion. Olympic medalist. “America is back. They have a great team, they have a great coach… they have young, hungry athletes.”

The sport officially debuted at the Olympic Games in 2000. From August 7-10, 2024, viewers will give you the chance to follow Nickolas’s competition at the Grand Palais in Paris Taekwondo competitions at the Olympic Games.

However, there are recent rules this 12 months. Instead of cumulative points, matches can be decided by whoever wins a best-of-five match, so competitors will now have to “win two out of three rounds to win the match.” According to Associated Press Press Agency, “These changes were made to increase the number of activities and minimize wait-and-see strategies.”