Cael Sanderson — Salt Lake City born and Heber City raised — won an Olympic gold medal Aug. 28 in freestyle wrestling.
To put that accomplishment in perspective, Sanderson became only the second Utah-born man — and the first in nearly a century — to earn Olympic gold in any event. Now Alma Richards, the high jump champion at the 1912 Stockholm Games, is no longer Utah's one-and-only man to bring home gold.
Cael, the third of four champion wrestling sons born to Steve and Debbie Sanderson of Heber City, had Olympic aspirations from a young age.
The family has an old scrapbook with a note listing the three goals of the then-first-grader Sanderson: Be a good student. Be a good person. Be an Olympic champion.
He was a good student. The 2002 college graduate was a two-time academic All-American. By all accounts, the mild-mannered Sanderson is a good person, too.
And now he's an Olympic champion, as well.
Even Tony Robbins and Stephen Covey have nothing on the goal-achieving Sanderson.
His success in Athens made Sanderson the obvious choice as the Deseret Morning News' Athlete of the Month for August.
"I see the medal, but it's hard to believe," said Sanderson to reporters while looking down at his gold-medal bearing chest in Athens.
It really wasn't hard to believe for those who have paid much attention to the Wasatch High graduate's career over the years. After winning four individual state championships in high school, he became the most distinguished college wrestler of all time, going 159-0 and winning four NCAA titles while at Iowa State. He even became the first wrestler to ever get his picture on a box of Wheaties thanks to his perfect college career.
The competition, however, became much stiffer once he advanced to national and international competition. Sanderson, often facing older and more experienced men, has found himself on the losing end of matches on occasion since completing his brilliant college career in 2002. He placed second at the 2003 Worlds, losing to Russia's Sazhid Sazhidov, and was again the silver medalist earlier this year at the U.S. Nationals, losing to Lee Fullhart.
That meant Fullhart, not Sanderson, had an automatic berth into the best-of-3 finals at the Olympic Trials. Sanderson made his way through the single-elimination tournament to get to the finals for a rematch with Fullhart. They split the first two matches, but Sanderson prevailed 4-1 in the decisive third match to make the Olympic team.
It didn't get any easier in Athens. Sanderson won all five of his matches, but only one by more than two points. He even had to come from behind to win his final three matches.
Sanderson faced Cuba's Yoel Romero in the semifinals, a world champion, 2000 silver medalist and a man who had beaten him twice before. This time Sanderson eked out a 3-2 victory. That left Korea's Eui Jae Moon, another 2000 silver medalist in Sydney (at the 167-pound weight class), between Sanderson and the gold. Moon, who beat Russian champ Sazhidov in the semifinals, scored first, but a two-point takedown with 1:28 remaining gave Sanderson the lead. After adding a one-point takedown with 54 seconds left, Sanderson held on for the 3-1 win — and Olympic gold.
"This is everything I hoped it would be," he said minutes after his victory.
His lifelong dream was accomplished. And it even lived up to expectations.
Cael Sanderson
Wrestling
6-0, 185 pounds, 25 years old
Hometown: Heber City
August highlights
Won the gold medal in the Olympic freestyle middleweight division.
Won five straight Olympic matches over the two-day period on Aug. 27-28.
Came from behind in his final three Olympic matches.
2004 Deseret Morning News Athletes of the Month
January — Nate Harris, Utah State basketball
February — Mark Bigelow, BYU basketball
March — Andrei Kirilenko, Utah Jazz
April — Melissa Vituj, U. gymnastics
May — Carlos Moreno, BYU volleyball
June — Annie Thurman, USA Curtis Cup golf team
July — Teren & Emily Jameson, 10K winners in July 24 road races
August — Cael Sanderson, Olympic champion wrestler
E-mail: lojo@desnews.com