U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist to Use Her Winnings to Help Mom Achieve Her Dreams of Opening a Food Truck

Along with receiving a medal, U.S. gold medal winners receive a cash reward of $37,500, paid out by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, PEOPLE Magazine reports. The prize money is untaxed unless the Olympian has a gross income of over $1 million.

With the prize money, Mensah-Stock, 28, told PEOPLE that she would like to help her mother finally start her own food truck.

“She’s always doing back-breaking work, and … I’ve just seen her struggling ever since my dad died, and I don’t like seeing it,” Mensah-Stock told the outlet.

As Christian Headlines previously reported, Mensah-Stock’s father passed away in a car accident on his way home from one of the athlete’s high school wrestling matches.

“I made a promise to her, and she loves cooking. It’s just one of her passions,” Mensah-Stock added, noting that she wants to support her mother in the same way her mother has supported her. “Growing up, we’d be like, ‘Ooh, mommy, you put your back into this food. Like you literally put your foot in it,'” she shared.

As she got older, Mensah-Stock told her mother she would like to buy her a food truck so she could make her dreams a reality. “So how about I buy you a food truck, and you can be anywhere you want to be?” Mensah-Stock recalled asking her mom. “[My mom] was ecstatic. 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.'”

Mensah-Stock said her mom is currently cooking and selling food on a portable grill, which Mensah-Stock admitted “is not exactly the best legal method.”

So, to make good on the five-year promise, she plans to use her winnings to help her mom start “The Lady Bug” food truck.

“It is going to be pleasant. It’s going to be legal. It’s going to be fun,” she says.

During the 2020 Olympics, Mensah-Stock became the second woman and first Black woman for team USA to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling. She beat out Nigeria’s Blessing Oborududu 4-1.

Related:

American Wrestler Tamyra Mensah-Stock Thanks God after Winning Gold in Tokyo

Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Tom Pennington/Staff

Kayla Koslosky has been the Editor of ChristianHeadlines.com since 2018. She has B.A. degrees in English and History and previously wrote for and was the managing editor of the Yellow Jacket newspaper. She has written on her blog since 2012 and has also contributed to IBelieve.com and Crosswalk.com.