Golden return to the mats in Peru by Aden
CNMI son and wrestler Aden Attao’s return to the mats after a much-needed break resulted in a gold medal finish in the 2024 U20 Pan-Am Wrestling Championships in Lima, Peru that was held last July 11-13.
In the finals of the 130-kg Greco-Roman style, Attao pinned Canada’s Jorawar Dhinsa for an 8-0 victory in less than a minute. In the semis, he had another dominant performance with a 10-0 win over Brazil’s Wesley Barros. In Round 2, he won, 11-0 over Luis De La Rosa of Mexico, and in Round 1, he first faced off against Dhinsa and also pinned him then for a 4-0 win.
The 19-year-old said that the tournament was good and he was excited to get back out there and wrestle with his teammate and friends.
With the much-needed break last month to visit family and friends back home, he said, “The break really helped me, it helped me just refocus and just spend time with the people I love doing what I love. And it just allowed me to refocus my mind and focus on my goals, but it also released a lot of stress that I had.”
On his win, he said, he felt good about it because he’s wrestled everyone else in the tourney besides Dhinsa. “I wrestled the Mexican two years ago and the Brazilian last year, so I knew I had the abilities to win it again. I just needed to go out and wrestle the way I can if I wanted to win,” he said.
As he is the training partner of Olympian Adam Coon—and with the 2024 Paris Olympics right around the corner—he said his mindset is to just continue to help Coon out and learn as well.
Right after the Olympics, Attao will face a string of tournaments and said that his mentality leading up to them has always been the same: “Trust my coaches, trust in the training. Go out, have fun, be aggressive, wrestle smart, and just let it fly.”
The wrestling schedule for the 2024 Paris Olympics is set for August, then he takes on the U20 World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain from Sept. 2 to 8. Then, he flies once again to Europe for the U23 World Championships in Tirana, Albania.
CNMI son and wrestler Aden Attao poses with his gold medal after the 2024 U20 Pan-Am Wrestling Championships in Lima, Peru that was held last July 11-13.
-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
