Kevin Mejía

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Mejía and the second or maternal family name is Castillo.

Kevin Mejía
Personal information
Born (1995-05-05) 5 May 1995 (age 29)
Tela, Honduras
Sport
Country Honduras
SportWrestling
Weight class97 kg
EventGreco-Roman
Achievements and titles
World finals2015 World Junior Wrestling Championships: Greco-Roman wrestling 96 kg – Bronze
Regional finals

Kevin Mejía Castillo (born 5 May 1995) is a Honduran wrestler. He qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics and was named his country's co-flag bearer.

Biography

Mejía was born in 1995.[1][2] He is the second of five children.[2] He spent his early years in Triunfo de la Cruz, Honduras.[3] As a boy, he sold spinning tops.[3] At age 13, he moved to Tegucigalpa from Triunfo de la Cruz, to train as a wrestler, following in the footsteps of one of his brothers.[2] He joined the High Performance Centre run by the Honduran Olympic Committee (Comité Olímpico Hondureño, COH) and by 2011 won a bronze medal in the cadet category at the World Junior Wrestling Championships in Hungary.[4] He won gold at the 2013 Central American Games and then won two bronze medals at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games.[5][6]

Mejía served as the flag bearer for Honduras at the 2015 Pan American Games.[7] There, he competed in the 98 kg Greco-Roman event and won the silver medal, becoming the first individual silver medalist for Honduras in the history of the Pan American Games, as well as the nation's only medalist at the 2015 games.[4][5] Later that year, he competed at the World Junior Championships and won a bronze medal in the 96 kg category.[4]

Mejía joined the German club SC-Oberlsbach in 2016.[8] He won a silver medal at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games, won bronze at the 2019 Pan American Games, and bronze at the French Grand Prix in 2020.[9][10][11] He won the gold medal at the 2021 Pan American Wrestling Championships, becoming the first-ever Honduran to do so.[12] In 2023, he won bronze at the Pan American Games and was the only Honduran medalist.[13] He qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics by winning at the 2024 Pan American Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament, becoming the first Honduran to qualify.[6] He was the only Honduran to directly qualify for the Olympics, as each of the others entered through a quota.[3] He was the co-Honduran flag bearer at the opening Olympic ceremony.[14] Mejía competed in the 97 kg event.[15] He was eliminated in his first match by Rustam Assakalov of Uzbekistan.[15]

Mejía has a son.[16]

References

  1. ^ "Kevin Mejia Castillo". Olympics.com.
  2. ^ a b c "Honduras espera grandes noticias de Kevin Mejía desde París" [Honduras awaits great news from Kevin Mejía from Paris] (in Spanish). EFE. 15 December 2023 – via Yahoo!.
  3. ^ a b c Gutiérrez, Omar (17 July 2024). "París 2024: Kevin Mejía, el laureado luchador que esperanza a Honduras con la primera medalla olímpica" [Paris 2024: Kevin Mejía, the laureate fighter who hopes Honduras with first Olympic medal]. Diez.hn (in Spanish).
  4. ^ a b c "Kevin Mejía volvió victorioso del Mundial Juvenil de Lucha" [Kevin Mejía returned victorious from the Youth Wrestling World Cup]. La Prensa (in Spanish). 18 August 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Kevin Mejía: 'Dije que lo iba a hacer por mi país'" [Kevin Mejía: 'I said I was going to do it for my country']. Diez.hn (in Spanish). 20 July 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Kevin Mejía es el primer atleta hondureño clasificado a París 2024" [Kevin Mejía is the first Honduran athlete to qualify for Paris 2024]. El Heraldo (in Spanish). 28 February 2024.
  7. ^ "Luchador Kevin Mejía será abanderado en Toronto 2015" [Wrestler Kevin Mejia will be the flagbearer in Toronto 2015]. Teleprensa (in Spanish). 3 July 2015.
  8. ^ Mayorga, Raxa (24 August 2016). "El luchador hondureño Kevin Mejía es contratado por un club de Alemania" [Honduran fighter Kevin Mejía is hired by a club in Germany]. Diez.hn (in Spanish).
  9. ^ "Kevin Mejía: «No soy el mejor atleta de Honduras»" [Kevin Mejía: "I am not the best athlete in Honduras"]. Diario Deportivo Más (in Spanish). 4 August 2018.
  10. ^ Bustillo, Victor (8 August 2019). "Kevin Mejía, medallista Panamericano: 'No era un niño de casa, era rebelde'" [Kevin Mejía, Pan American medalist: 'He was not a child from home, he was a rebel']. Diez.hn (in Spanish).
  11. ^ "Kevin Mejía le da bronce a Honduras en el Grand Prix de Francia" [Kevin Mejía gives Honduras bronze in the French Grand Prix]. Diez.hn (in Spanish). 19 January 2020.
  12. ^ Miller, Taylor (28 May 2021). "Mejia Castillo Becomes Honduras' First Senior Pan-American Champ". United World Wrestling.
  13. ^ Osorto, Marcel (10 November 2023). "Kevin Mejía, el atleta hondureño más laureado" [Kevin Mejía, the most successful Honduran athlete: "The Olympics are on my mind"]. La Prensa (in Spanish).
  14. ^ "Paris 2024 | Opening ceremony flagbearers information" (PDF). International Olympic Committee. 26 July 2024.
  15. ^ a b "Wrestling Results Book" (PDF). 2024 Summer Olympics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  16. ^ "El atleta Kevin Mejía es la gran apuesta de Honduras en los Juegos Olímpicos de París 2024" [Athlete Kevin Mejía is Honduras's big bet at the 2024 Paris Olympics]. Hondudiario.com (in Spanish). 24 July 2024.
Olympic Games
Preceded by Flag bearer for  Honduras
Paris 2024
with
Julimar Ávila 		Succeeded by
Incumbent