Rio 2016: Root for singing wrestler J’den Cox

Every day of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Fusion is highlighting a handful of the Games’ thousands of athletes. They won’t always be Americans, but they will always be worthy of your cheers.

J’den Cox
USA, wrestling
When he’s on TV: USA network, 12 p.m.

The Missouri native began wrestling when he was four years old, and had some help by way of his older brothers. “They used to tie me up and put me in trees,” Cox told the Kansas City Star. He won four straight Missouri high school championships before going on to win NCAA titles two of the last three years as a student at the University of Missouri. He is a singer/songwriter too: He composed and performed “One More” after MU’s protests and controversies in 2015. And he has been joining his mother, Cathy, a regular singer of “The Star Spangled Banner” at MU sporting events, in singing the national anthem.