Ellis Coleman
Ellis Coleman in 2013
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| Personal information | ||||||||||
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| Born |
August 16, 1991 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
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| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||
| Weight | 60 kg (130 lb) | |||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||
| Sport | Greco-Roman wrestling | |||||||||
| Club | NYAC, New York | |||||||||
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Medal record
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Ellis Coleman (born August 16, 1991) is an American wrestler from Chicago who won the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials to compete for the United States team in the Greco-Roman 60 kg competition of Wrestling at the 2012 Summer Olympics at the 2012 Olympics. Coleman overcame challenging life conditions after being enrolled in youth wrestling classes. As a high school senior for Oak Park and River Forest High School finished third in the state wrestling championships. On several occasions, Coleman executed a takedown by jumping over his opponent and grabbing him as he flew over his back. Coleman is sometimes referred to as the Flying Squirrel for this takedown move that he has made famous.
Coleman was raised by his single mother, Yolanda Barral, in Chicago, Illinois. Coleman describes his biological father, Lewellis Coleman, as a person who was "in and out of jail [his] whole life." Apart from visiting him in jail, the only memory he has of his father is the time his father sold all the family's televisions and the PlayStation for drugs. Federal records describe his biological father as a "career offender" with 19 aliases.
His mother raised the family, including Coleman's brother (Lillashawn) and sister, in the Humboldt Park community area, then the West Side and finally Oak Park. Coleman describes his stepfather as a long-time gang member with an extensive criminal record. After enduring formative years with gunfights outside elementary school, home loss due to an apartment fire, and expulsion hearings, his stepfather, Mose Oliver, introduced him to wrestling to keep him out of trouble. Federal records confirm that Oliver is an alleged 1990s gang enforcer who served time from 2004 to 2011 for participation in Operation Day Trader. The wrestling started in about 2001. By sixth grade both his father and stepfather were incarcerated and his father figure was his wrestling coach, Mike Powell. Coleman attended Ella Flagg Young elementary school. Barral raised her family with little assistance away from the gang influences of the West Side. She applied for section 8 assistance. Coleman, who was nearly expelled as a sophomore, graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, IL in 2009. He has studied at Northern Michigan University.
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