Jaime Espinal
Espinal at the 2016 Olympics
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality |
Dominican Puerto Rican |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
October 14, 1984 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 86 kg (190 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Freestyle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Sparta | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Pedro Rojas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Medal record
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jaime Yusept Espinal Fajardo (born October 14, 1984) is a Dominican-born Puerto Rican freestyle wrestler. In 2012 he became the first Olympic medalist in wrestling for Puerto Rico by winning a silver medal in the 84 kg division.
Espinal was born to Jaime Felix Espinal and Alejandrina Fajardo Hernández. He has two siblings: Stanley and Rosemary. When he was 5 years old, his family moved to Puerto Rico. Espinal studied at the Baptist College and then Gabriela Mistral High School. He began wrestling when he was nine years old when coach Pedro Rojas approached him and other kids and invited them to Club Sparta in Río Piedras along with Franklin Gómez.
When he was 15 years old, Espinal and his mother moved to Brooklyn, New York. Espinal says he had to deal with racism and fights "every two or three days". After someone drew a knife on him during a fight, he decided to return to Puerto Rico alone. Espinal quit wrestling and began cheerleading and dancing. He received a scholarship in cheerleading from the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón. Espinal continued college at Walden University in Pennsylvania. He completed a Bachelor's degree in computer design.
Before his international wrestling career, Espinal spent three years as a breakdancer for the Time Machine Squad, entering the group after winning a contest. In 2008, he went by the name of "Olimpic Jumps" as part of the group. During that time, he served as a backup dancer for hip hop artists like Daddy Yankee and Tego Calderón. He also practiced baseball and worked as a model. However, convinced by coach Rojas, Espinal returned to wrestling.
...
Wikipedia