Who is Tamyra Mensah-Stock's husband? Olympic wrestler found love through sport
Chicago-born US wrestler Tamyra Mensah-Stock became the second American woman to win gold in wrestling at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. And immediately after, speaking to reporters, the Olympian gushed about how much she loves living in America. This was Mensah-Stock's first-ever Olympic and even though she came out as the number one in the competition, the 28-year-old wrestler told the media the plentitude of nerve-wracking moments she faced in the finals.
Mensah-Stock became an Olympic champion after defeating Nigeria’s Blessing Oborududu 4-1 in the women’s freestyle 68kg finals. As the second US woman to win a gold in Olympic history, Mensah-Stock follows Helen Louis Maroulis's historic gold medal in the 53kg category at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Despite reportedly telling her coaches she was "nervous" and "scared", Mensah-Stock outperformed her seasoned opponents. And speaking of seasoned opponents, Mensah-Stock has found one in her soulmate, husband Jacob Stock, who is also a wrestler.
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Who is Tamyra Mensah-Stock's husband?
Tamyra Mensah-Stock married Jacob Stock in 2016. The couple used to wrestle together at Morton Ranch High School and Wayland Baptist University with Mensah-Stock. Speaking to Win Magazine, Mensah-Stock had opened up about how Jacob has always been her biggest supporter, constantly reminding her of her wrestling potential. “He’s always been my biggest supporter, who says I have the most potential but adds he has seen me take it easy on someone,” Mensah-Stock had told the outlet.
“He’ll say, ‘You have to go out there and dominate and take care of business. After the match, then you can go hug (the opponent)'," the Olympian added. "He’s in my ear every day and telling me I can do this; that ‘you are such a powerful and dominating woman. Showcase God’s grace and show people what you have.’ All this positivity has been around me. It’s still a struggle but I’ve gotten better since the beginning of my wrestling career.”
Tamyra met Jacob in school through wrestling
Jacob too gushed about his better half in the same interview. “She’s always been a bit of an oxymoron,” he told the outlet, smiling. “She’s very much a walking paradox where she’s ready to go at any time, but at her time. She’s got a huge heart and does things for the right reason.” Watching Mensah-Stock mature over the years has been a "trip" for Jacob, who told the outlet: "She’s still her same old self and can be a bit goofy, but when it comes to the way she does her profession, she means business,” he said. “She gets this tunnel vision and focuses on the task at hand and pushes everything else to the side. Before she might have gotten a little more distracted.”
Jacob, like his wife, began wrestling at Morton Ranch High School, about 30 miles to the west of Houston. In fact, one of the most significant reasons why Mensah-Stock chose to attend Wayland Baptist University was that Jacob had already decided to wrestle and attend the Texas school. It was at Wayland that Mensah-Stock also won her two WCWA national championships for the Pioneers, and looking back, she credits Jacob for being "handsome" enough to make her follow suit. “He was someone on the wrestling team I admired,” she said, continuing: “He was this tall handsome guy, who I didn’t think would ever want to talk to me. He was my super crush. When I found out he had signed with Wayland, I also signed … and we started dating our junior year of college.”
Tamyra Mensah Stock's Olympic success
“There were a lot of [nerve-wracking] moments and I just tried to stay calm but it was impossible,” Mensah-Stock, the gold medal winner at the Olympic women's finals told reporters after her ecstatic victory. "I honestly don’t know how I did it, I just kept telling my coaches ‘I’m nervous, I’m scared’ and yeah that’s some insight, it wasn’t pretty.” A clip shared on Twitter shows a post-victory Mensah-Stock, unable to hold back tears as she thanked God and gushed about being born in America.
“I’m feeling very happy and I keep trying not to cry, but it keeps happening. I just wanna go into a dark room and just cry,” she told reporters, continuing: "It’s by the grace of God I’m able to even move my feet. Like I just leave it in His hands, and I pray that all the practice, that the hell that my freaking coaches put me through pays off. And every single time it does, and I get better and better and it’s so weird that there is no cap to the limit that I can do.”
Who are Tamyra Mensah-Stock's parents?
Embracing the American flag as tightly as possible, Mensah-Stock then went on about how thrilled she is at the opportunity to be able to represent the USA. "It feels amazing. I love representing the U.S. I freaking love living there. I love it, and I’m so happy I get to represent USA!” she told reporters. Daughter of Ghana immigrants, Mensah Stock grew up around Houston, Texas, The Guardian reports, revealing that her career in wrestling began after being bullied by her high school track-and-field teammates.
Mensah-Stock reportedly came very close to quitting the sport after her father passed away in a car accident while returning from one of her high school tournaments. Telling reporters her father would be proud, Mensah Stock said: “I wanted to give my mom $30,000 so she can get a food truck. It’s her dream. My mom’s getting her food truck! She’s going to have a little cooking business. She can cook really, really, really well — barbecue.”