Aden Attao recaps Olympics experience

As the curtain closed on the biggest sporting event in the world—the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France—last Sunday, CNMI son and wrestler Aden Attao recapped his experience as the training partner of Adam Coon—the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team’s bet in the 130-kg Greco-Roman division.

Attao, who almost made the cut for the Olympic team, placed third in the 130-kg Greco-Roman Challenge Tournament Finals during the 2024 Olympic Wrestling Trials in Pennsylvania last April. He then grabbed the spot as Coon’s training partner after the trial’s runner-up succumbed to an injury.

This opened up Attao’s opportunity to train with Coon and experience and witness first hand his first Olympics—albeit from the sidelines—for now.

The 19-year-old, who has wrestled since he was just 7, said his ultimate goal is to one day reach the Olympic stage as the America’s bet in the 130-kg Greco-Roman division.

The Oregon State University State Beaver said of his experience in the Olympics, “It was a great experience just to be there. But it also inspired me, thinking about how I was so close to making the team. So, it just inspired me to work even harder to make sure I do everything in my power to be on the team for LA2028 [2028 Los Angeles Olympics].”

On how he felt being Coon’s training partner, he said, “It felt super awesome just being a training partner. I was able to watch and observe what these people do leading up to tournaments and how they mentally prepare themselves, or what they do on the mat to prepare their body.”

It may be the biggest event in the world, he said, but that “being around like-minded individuals who want the gold, but who also just look at it as another tournament is what elevates everyone to be better.”

His main takeaway from watching Olympians compete, he said, was, “is that the guys from the U.S. do great on our feet and we can survive on our feet, but the moment we get down, we don’t know what to do. So, a big takeaway I have, especially at heavyweight, is to keep working on all my techniques on my feet so they never know what is coming, but focus extremely hard on par terre defense so it’s more difficult for them to turn me.”

Coon lost to reigning world champion Amin Mirzazad of Iran in the opening-round bout, 3-1, after being put down on the mat twice. Mirzazad went on to bag bronze, while Cuba’s Mijaín López made history after he won his fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal—the only Olympian to ever do so. He went on to symbolically leave his shoes on the mat after his match as a signal of his retirement from the sport.

Attao was asked if he witnessed history take place and he said he did. “I would say that it was a super cool thing to watch that happen; he is most definitely the greatest Greco wrestler of all time, so it was awesome to watch. I was in the arena up a couple rows from the front to watch him win it.”

As for how López’s departure opens up the U.S. wrestlers’ chances at the podium in the next Olympics, he said, “It definitely opens it up for the U.S. in the 130-kg weight class for the future Olympics. All countries are tough and will be difficult to beat, however. Some of the big ones are Turkey, Iran, and Hungary.”

Aside from training with Coon and doing his workouts, Attao also found some time to watch the Games’ other sports and explore Paris. “I had also just explored Paris by biking around and going to see the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumphe, and the Cathedral de Notre Dame. So, I just explored the city when I wasn’t watching or working out,” he said.

He now has two more competitions left in the year. On Sept. 2-8, he is competing in the U20 World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain, then taking on the U23 World Championships in Tirana, Albania from Oct. 21 to 27.

He then said, “By that point I will have moved into school at Oregon State, and after U23 Worlds I will be getting ready for the college season, while also training and making sure I am doing everything in [my] power to make that team in LA2028.”

Aden is the son of Jesse Attao and Stacey Hammar, and the grandson of Jesus and Ramona Attao of Navy Hill.