Unless you actively watch wrestling, you likely had no idea who Tamyra Mensah-Stock was before she went viral.
Mensah-Stock became the first Black woman to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling. So as an American Olympian, she will receive $37,500 in prize money for taking first place. She already has plans for the money as she revealed the majority of it will be spent on giving her mom a food truck.
In an interview with People magazine, the 28-year-old said her idea of purchasing her mother’s dream food truck started five years ago, but only became a reality on Tuesday after she won first place in women’s Olympic wrestling.
“I made a promise to her and she loves cooking,” she told People. “It’s just one of her passions. Growing up, we’d be like, ‘Ooh, mommy, you put your back into this food.”
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Mensah-Stock said she asked her mom: “So how about I buy you a food truck and you can be anywhere you want to be?”
“She’s like, ‘Yes, I would love that.’ This is five years ago. And I just keep telling her, ‘Just hold off, mommy, please just hold off,'” the athlete told the publication. She also said she and her mother already have a name in mind for the truck: “The Lady Bug.”
Stock later went on to discuss the pressures her mother faced after her father died. “She’s always doing back-breaking work,” she said. “I’ve just seen her struggling ever since my dad died and I don’t like seeing it.”
Her father tragically died in a car accident on the way home from one of her wrestling competitions while she was in high school.
