It's official, the American Samoa Flag will be seen on the world stage, flown at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, this Summer (July 27-August 12), in the sport of wrestling, thanks to the efforts of CJ Floor, who represented the territory in the African/Oceania Qualification Tournament that is taking place now (March 16-18) in Morocco.

 Floor was able to earn a Silver Medal in the 96kg class in Freestyle Wrestling.  Lia Mata’afa, another American Samoa wrestler will be competing today (which is Sunday in Morocco).

“The tournament went well. I had a good seed. I pinned my first guy in 1:59. He was from the Ivory Coast and I pinned the second guy from Morocco in 30 seconds. I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers. All of the hard work paid off. Now on to the biggest stage of all in wrestling... the Olympics,” said Floor through a Facebook chat from Morocco, with Samoa News.

Floor’s two wins came against A. Kovlahi of Corte Divoire and Reda Hanani of Morocco, which put him in the finals, where he lost to Mustafa Farhat of Egypt.

Before reaching this highest plateau in wrestling or in any Olympic Sport, Floor competed in the 2011 World Championships and was also able to earn a Silver in the last Oceania qualifiers in Australia and a Gold before that in the Oceania Championships in Apia, Samoa.

Samoa News had a chance to speak with Carl Floor, CJ’s dad, about his son’s great achievement. “We owe our success to Coach Lt. Col. Ernie Jackson from Port Jervis High School,” said the Seinor Floor. “Ernie, placing 6th in New York  State Wrestling, graduated with 1984 Olympic Champions Ed and Lou Banach. After the news that CJ’s mom Patricia had terminal cancer, Coach Jackson took my boys Sean and CJ under his wing, providing them with an avenue to release their anger,” he said.

“Coach Jackson also formulated a plan for me on how to build a champion and it worked. CJ has validated American Samoa in the sport of wrestling and we are all proud of his success, determination and sacrifice. I know his mom is proud as is our whole family. This will bring much needed recognition to the territory I am hopeful that our number of wrestling participants will increase. Not only did CJ validate American Samoa internationally, but nationally as well. I am hopeful that this success will us to secure additional college wrestling scholarships for boys and girls alike,” said Carl Floor.

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXX ‘Olympiad or London 2012 Games’, are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from this July 27 to August 12 2012.

Samoa News will report on the latest news of CJ Floor and Lia Mata’afa.