Asnage Castelly (born March 29, 1978Asnage Castelly
,

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. Accessed August 12, 2016. "Date of birth: March 29, 1978 (Age 38); Height and weight: 1.82 m /6' 0" — 74 kg / 163 lbs") 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 Irvington is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 61,176, an increase of 7,250 (+13.4%) from the 2010 Uni ...

, 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.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. 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.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." He attended American International College, a liberal arts college in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

, as the first member of his family to ever attend college. There he competed, as part of the school's athletic program, in Division II of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

, graduating in 2002. He served in Iraq with the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

as a Muslim chaplain, and became a member of the coaching staff at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) after completing his military service. 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. 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. After creating the federation in 2005 and acting as its president, he worked unsuccessfully to compete at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

and the 2012 games in London, before receiving an invitation from United World Wrestling to compete as a wild card entry at the

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. 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 opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

, an honor that surprised him so much that he "thought it was a joke", when he was first notified.Karasin, Reena
"Springfield man will carry Haitian flag at Olympics"
''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'', 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." At and , he competed in the Wrestling Men's Freestyle 74 kg event. He was defeated in the first round by Hassan Yazdani of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, who went on to win the gold medal.Men's Freestyle 74 kg - Standings
, Rio2016.com. Accessed August 26, 2016. 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. Upon returning home to Haiti, his wife was shot 18 times by Steven Junior Perrin.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Castelly, Asnage 1979 births American International College alumni American International Yellow Jackets wrestlers Haitian emigrants to the United States Haitian male sport wrestlers Irvington High School (New Jersey) alumni Living people Olympic wrestlers for Haiti People from Irvington, New Jersey Sportspeople from Essex County, New Jersey Wrestlers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Pan American Games competitors for Haiti Wrestlers at the 2015 Pan American Games