Asnage Castelly

Last updated

Asnage Castelly
Asnage Castelly Rio2016.jpg
Castelly at the 2016 Olympics
Personal information
Born (1978-03-29) March 29, 1978 (age 46)
Haiti
Height182 cm (6 ft 0 in) [1]
Weight74 kg (163 lb)
Sport
Sport Freestyle wrestling
ClubNieves Wrestling Club, Springfield, MA, U.S. [2]
Coached byAnibal Nieves [2]

Asnage Castelly (born March 29, 1978 [1] ) is a Haitian-American wrestler who competed for Haiti at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 74kg freestyle competition.

Born in Haiti, Castelly moved to Irvington, New Jersey, at the age of 9, unable to speak English. Picked on as a child because of his lack of language skills, he became interested in wrestling after seeing a television broadcast of the Olympic games. [3] He attended Irvington High School, where he competed in football, track and wrestling, winning a state district title in the sport. He graduated as part of the class of 1998. [4]

He attended American International College, a liberal arts college in Springfield, Massachusetts, as the first member of his family to ever attend college. [5] There he competed, as part of the school's athletic program, in Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, graduating in 2002. [4] [6] He served in Iraq with the United States Army as a Muslim chaplain, and became a member of the coaching staff at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) after completing his military service. [4]

Castelly is the first wrestler from Haiti to compete in the Olympics, a nation that has not won any Olympic medals since 1928. In order to be eligible to participate at the international level, he had to create the Haitian Wrestling Federation on his own. [4] He received approval from both the Haitian Olympic Committee and United World Wrestling, the international sanctioning body for the sport, and was allowed to compete. Alberto Nieves and his brother, former Olympian Anibál Nieves – his coaches at American International and the head coaches respectively of the men's and women's programs at STCC – have been acting as his Olympic coaches. [4]

After creating the federation in 2005 and acting as its president, he worked unsuccessfully to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 2012 games in London, before receiving an invitation from United World Wrestling to compete as a wild card entry at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. As part of the 11-member contingent from Haiti at the 2016 games, Castelly was chosen to be the flag bearer at the opening ceremony, an honor that surprised him so much that he "thought it was a joke", when he was first notified. [5] At 6 feet 0 inches (1.83 m) and 163 pounds (74 kg), he competed in the Wrestling Men's Freestyle 74 kg event. [1] He was defeated in the first round by Hassan Yazdani of Iran, who went on to win the gold medal. [7]

In 2015, he stated his intentions to move to Haiti after the 2016 Olympics and launch a wrestling program at Haitian schools by the end of 2020. [3]

Upon returning home to Haiti, his wife was shot 18 times by Steven Junior Perrin.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irvington High School (New Jersey)</span> High school in Essex County, New Jersey, United States

Irvington High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school in Irvington, in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades, as the lone secondary school of the Irvington Public Schools. IHS has three main floors and a basement, with each floor holding up to 23 classrooms. A west wing of the building was erected in the 1970s. The school is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools.

Augusto Midana is a freestyle wrestler from Guinea-Bissau who competes in the men's middleweight (-74 kg) category. He represented Guinea-Bissau in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, and was the flagbearer for his nation during the opening ceremonies of those games. He competed again at the 2012 Summer Olympics, finishing in 7th place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jabrayil Hasanov</span> Azerbaijani wrestler

Jabrayil Hasanov is a male freestyle wrestler from Azerbaijan who has competed in the 66, 74 and 79 kg categories. He is an Olympic bronze medalist and multiple World Championships medalist. He is the winner of Yasar Dogu Grand-Prix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American International Yellow Jackets</span> Intercollegiate sports teams of American International College

The American International Yellow Jackets is composed of 22 teams representing American International College in intercollegiate athletics, including men’s and women's basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, track and field, and volleyball. Men's sports include baseball, football, ice hockey, and wrestling. Women's sports include field hockey, rugby, softball, and tennis. The Yellow Jackets compete in NCAA Division II and are members of the Northeast-10 Conference for all sports except ice hockey, which competes in NCAA Division I; men's volleyball, which competes as a de facto Division I member in the East Coast Conference; men's wrestling, which is an NCAA Division II Independent; and women's triathlon, which competes as a de facto Division I independent. The men's ice hockey team is a member of Atlantic Hockey Division I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Narsingh Yadav</span> Indian wrestler (born 1989)

Narsingh Pancham Yadav is an Indian wrestler. At the 2010 Commonwealth Games, he won the gold medal in the men's freestyle 74 kg category.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ikhtiyor Navruzov</span> Uzbekistani freestyle wrestler

Ikhtiyor Navruzov is an Uzbek freestyle wrestler. He competed in the 66 kg event at the 2012 Summer Olympics and lost quarter finals match against India's Sushil Kumar. He is a silver 2015 World Wrestling Championships medalist in the 65 kg, gold medalist of 2018 Bishkek, 2 times silver medalist and 2 bronze medalist of Asian Wrestling Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haji Aliyev</span> Azerbaijani freestyle wrestler

Haji Aliyev, is an Azerbaijani freestyle wrestler. He competed at the 61 kg division in the 2014 European Wrestling Championships and won the gold medal after beating Bekkhan Goygereyev of Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">India at the 2016 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

India competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Indian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympics since 1920, although they made their official debut at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mongolia at the 2016 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Mongolia competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation made its debut in 1964, Mongolian athletes had appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, with the exception of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, because of its partial support to the Soviet boycott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Azerbaijan at the 2016 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Azerbaijan competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tajikistan at the 2016 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Tajikistan competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia at the 2016 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Georgia competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyrgyzstan at the 2016 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Kyrgyzstan competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Olympics in the post-Soviet era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenia at the 2016 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Armenia competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. It was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cameroon at the 2016 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Cameroon competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. It was the nation's fourteenth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haiti at the 2016 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Haiti competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. It was the nation's sixteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut in 1900.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guinea-Bissau at the 2016 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Guinea-Bissau competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, from August 5 to 21, 2016. It was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palau at the 2016 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Palau competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's fifth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zelimkhan Khadjiev</span> Russian-French freestyle wrestler

Zelimkhan Khadjiev is a Russian-French freestyle wrestler of Chechen heritage. He competed in the men's freestyle 74 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, in which he was eliminated in the round of 16 by Sosuke Takatani.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taimuraz Friev</span> Spanish freestyle wrestler

Taimuraz Ruslanovich Friev is a Russian freestyle wrestler of Ossetian descent representing Spain. He competed in the men's freestyle 74 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where he was eliminated in the Round of 32 by Liván López .

References

  1. 1 2 3 Asnage Castelly Archived August 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine , 2016 Summer Olympics. Accessed August 12, 2016. "Date of birth: March 29, 1978 (Age 38); Height and weight: 1.82 m /6' 0" — 74 kg / 163 lbs"
  2. 1 2 Asnage Castelly. nbcolympics.com. Accessed August 29, 2016.
  3. 1 2 Lemoult, Craig. "Springfield, Mass., Wrestler Hopes To Win Haiti's First Olympic Medal In 88 Years", Weekend Edition , June 18, 2016. Accessed August 12, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Evans, Bill. "Rio 2016: N.J. native to wrestle for Haiti, carry flag in Olympics Opening Ceremony", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, August 3, 2016. Accessed August 12, 2016. "Castelly moved to New Jersey from Haiti when he was 9 years old and he competed for Irvington High School.... He also played football and ran track for Irvington. After graduating from Irvington in 1998, he went on to wrestle for Division II American International in Springfield, Mass."
  5. 1 2 Karasin, Reena. "Springfield man will carry Haitian flag at Olympics", The Boston Globe , August 3, 2016. Accessed August 12, 2016. "A Springfield man is poised to mark two milestones for his native Haiti in the Summer Olympics this month, competing as the nation's first-ever wrestling entrant and carrying the Haitian flag in the opening ceremonies."
  6. ↑ "Asnage Castelly '02 To Compete For Haiti In Wrestling At Rio Olympics", AIC Yellow Jackets. Accessed August 12, 2016. "Asnage Castelly '02 will make history for his native Haiti and for American International College when he steps onto the mat in Rio to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics as a wrestler."
  7. ↑ Men's Freestyle 74 kg - Standings Archived September 22, 2016, at the Wayback Machine , Rio2016.com. Accessed August 26, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.