Cerritos Alum Jonovan Smith Represents Puerto Rico at the Paris Olympics

Article courtesy of Cerritos College Athletics

Representing Puerto Rico, former Cerritos College wrestling state champion Jonovan Smith made the most of his international experience. Competing in the 125kg Freestyle event, Smith dropped his lone match, 10-0 to Taha Akgul of Turkiye. Smith, who won a state championship for the Falcons in 2021, qualified for the Olympics after doing well in qualifying tournaments. The United World Wrestling point system comes from placing or winning at top tournaments. Tournaments such as the Pan American Games, Pan American Championships, Central American and Caribbean Games, Henry Deglanne Grand Prix, Senior Worlds, Zagreb Open, the Nationals on the Island are some of the options Smith had to choose from. One of main obstacle was not qualifying for any of the tournament, but finding ways to get to any of the events.

Smith competed in the Seniors Pan-Am Championships, where he had to injury default in the finals and followed that up by winning the Seniors Pan-Am Olympic Games Qualifiers, both of which took place in Acapulco.

Taking on the #4-seeded Akgul, a former Olympic gold medalist, Smith found himself trailing, 6-0 after the first of two periods, and ended up dropping a 10-0 decision. Takgul, was ranked #1 in the work as recently as 2022 and is a three-time world champion, went on to win the bronze medal.

Smith will continue to compete in international matches has is striving to compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.