Overview
- Dunia Sibomana-Rodriguez, 18, shared his story in a WABC interview published Wednesday after a season capped by a national high school title.
- He was adopted in middle school by Long Beach assistant coach Miguel Rodriguez, who introduced him to wrestling.
- At age 6 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he survived a swarm chimpanzee attack that killed his cousin and caused severe facial injuries and the loss of a finger.
- Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, with support from the Smile Rescue Fund for Kids, performed about 15–16 reconstructive surgeries including grafts to rebuild his lips.
- He has committed to wrestle at the University of North Carolina on scholarship, though coverage differs on whether a brother died or was injured in the original attack.