Gold Medalist Carol Huynh returns home from Beijing

Gracious and goldenOlympic medallist vows to take her 'five or 10 minutes of fame' while she canMary Frances HillVancouver SunWednesday, August 27, 2008RICHMOND I Carol Huynh returned from Beijing Tuesday with an Olympic gold medal in her pocket and discovered she's now a celebrity and a role model.Port Moody secondary school students -- and wrestlers -- Ana Boskovic and Cassy Powell, who were in the crowd waiting to greet her at Vancouver International Airport, said Huynh's medal means instant credibility for them.Boskovic, who enters Grade 10 next month, said female wrestlers don't get much respect from their fellow students."They think it's silly, like, 'Girls can wrestle?'"She got a gold medal and it's the first one for Canada. So now everyone knows women can wrestle. ... Everyone thought it was a man's sport."Huynh said the long trip home from Beijing -- via Thailand and Calgary -- was made even longer by the chunk of heavy metal in her jacket pocket.Metal detectors went wild at every airport security gate she passed through."A couple of times [security guards] didn't say anything, but other times they asked me to pull the medal out, and asked to touch it," said Huynh, beaming just minutes after her arrival."But I always had a good firm grip on it. I'm paranoid about losing it or someone taking it from me."It had been 11 days since she won gold by defeating three-time world champion Chiharu Icho of Japan in the 48-kilogram women's wrestling category, and Huynh was feeling a little overwhelmed by the attention."It's bizarre," she said. "I'm taking it in right now. It's surreal. But I'll take it as it comes, and I'll take my five or 10 minutes of fame while I can."Huynh's credited her industrious parents, hard work and small-town support for her success.She was raised in Hazelton, one of five children.Her parents, Chinese-born Viem Huynh and Mai Trinh, fled Vietnam with their two oldest children at the end of the war there and became "boat people" who landed in Indonesia, then moved on to Canada and Hazelton eight months later."I got my work ethic from my parents," she said. "They've been through a lot in their lives, and they worked hard to support five kids. They're very special to me."Today, the hard-working kid from Hazelton is fielding calls from an agent and pondering her post-Olympic future."I haven't thought about endorsements too much. I'm talking to an agent in the next few days, so I don't even know what's supposed to happen after this."Huynh said she wants to pursue a graduate degree, and hopes to continue to wrestle at world championship events.Emily Richardson, Danny Einhorn and Ashley Cross, just a few members of Huynh's welcoming committee of family and friends, described her as modest and low-key."I knew she'd have it tough, but after the first takedown, I knew she had it," said Einhorn.Cross also said she wasn't surprised by the win."It wasn't a shock, and I wasn't nervous for her. I knew she was hungry for it."Mike Jones, who coached Huynh at SFU, predicted before she left for Beijing that she'd win a medal."Carol's quick, and she has a great sense of where she is," said Jones. "We don't teach those things. Either you have it or you don't."mfhill@vancouversun.com© The Vancouver Sun 2008 http://www.canada.com/vancouve...

Channel: Sports
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
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Tags: 2008  BC  Beijing  Canada  Carol  Gold  Hazleton  Huynh  Medal  Medalist  MEDALS  

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