Camp Lejeune Marine falls, 5-3, in Olympic wrestling
Posted August 2, 2021 6:47 p.m. EDT
Updated August 3, 2021 7:51 a.m. EDT
Jacksonville, N.C. — A Marine from Camp Lejeune had his moment in the Olympic spotlight on Tuesday. Staff Sergeant John Stefanowicz is the first Marine in 29 years to be a member of the U.S. wrestling team.
His wife, Samantha Stefanowicz, says his path to the Olympics was anything but conventional. When he graduated high school in York County, Pennsylvania, in 2009, he was less than imposing.
"He graduated at about 120-plus pounds, and 5 foot two or three," she said. "He was kind of a late bloomer."
He didn't win any wrestling competitions, and not a single college offered to let him wrestle.
But John Stefanowicz had dreamed of wrestling since he was a kid.
"He was 8 years old, maybe, when he wrote on a piece of paper that he was gonna go the Olympics one day, and that paper is still floating around somewhere," his wife said.
After wrestling didn't work out for him, he joined the Marines. Soon after joining, he hit a growth spurt and found an opportunity with the All-Marine Wrestling Team.
"He blew up. Nobody was expecting him to end up competing and being as amazing as he was," Samantha Stefanowicz said.
In April, John Stefanowicz made to the Olympic wrestling trials and beat four opponents in two days, giving him a ticket to Tokyo. For many weeks, John Stefanowicz was away from his family training and competing.
"I have fully supported his desire and dream to go to the Olympics, so making sure he had every opportunity to get there was hard, and tiring and fulfilling at the same time," she said.
John Stefanowicz wrestled Tuesday against Ivan Hukley of Croatia, losing 5-3.
