Here's what to know about the California-born C.J. Nickolas who is hoping to win gold for taekwondo at the Olympics.
C.J. Nickolas has been open about his desire to win gold at the Paris Olympics. The 22-year-old Team USA athlete is competing in taekwondo, a Korean martial art that Nickolas describes as “more like boxing than wrestling,” in which fighters mostly utilize their feet to strike their opponent.
Born Carl Alan Nickolas, C.J. won gold at the 2023 Pan American Games and silver at the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, the first U.S. taekwondo medal at the worlds since 2009. The California-born athlete started taekwondo at age 3 with his immediate family and began competing at age 6.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]All of this led him to be the first taekwondo athlete to qualify for this year’s Summer Olympics, which are set to run from July 26 until August 11.
Here’s all you need to know about C.J. Nickolas as he makes a play for an Olympic gold medal.
Nickolas frequently mentions and credits his mother Denise Nickolas and stepfather Edward Givans.
“My mom was smart. She looked up combat sports for a kid and found martial arts that are in the Olympics, where you could build a career,” he told NBC. “And she found this random taekwondo school and put me in it.”
Denise enrolled in the taekwondo class as well to learn with her son, and went on to become a black belt before retiring from the sport a few years ago..
In an interview with Teen Vogue, Nickolas said that his mother started dating—and eventually married— his taekwondo instructor, Givans. Though the two are no longer together, he considers the instructor to be both a “father-figure and a coach.” In interviews and on his Team USA profile, Nickolas calls Givans his father.
Nickolas’ height is 6 ‘2” and he will be in the 68-80 kg weight class in taekwondo at the Olympics.
According to the World Taekwondo athlete rankings, Nickolas’ position in the sport rose to number two in his 80kg division at the end of 2023. At the Olympics, there are only eight weight classes—four for each gender. Nickolas was listed as second on the “M-80 kg, Senior Division, World Kyorugi Ranking” until June 2024.
Nickolas earned his black belt when he was just 7 years old.
Though Nickolas’ net worth is not known, prize money awarded for competitions in the sport can vary. For example, in the World Taekwondo Grand Slam Champions Series, the gold medal prize is $15,000, the silver medal prize is $4,000, and the bronze medal prize is $2,000. In the Pan American Games, which Nickolas won gold in last year, prize money for individual athletes ranged from $3,000 for those who won gold to $2,000 and $1,000 for those who won silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Athletes also often make money through brand partnerships, and Nickolas is an ambassador for the dating app Tinder.
Nickolas is incredibly active on his Instagram, YouTube channel, and other social media platforms. There, he has shared his music, asking his fans to vote for their favorite songs.
