The Mysterious Time Traveling Wrestler from Thunder Bay

Sometimes our ability to use the internet to find out almost everything about almost anybody leads down some curious rabbit holes. 

The person in the middle is striking, too tiny to be real.  He doesn't have the right proportions to be a dwarf or a child, yet he must be about 4 feet tall. I figure the photo must be a photoshop trick or some deliberately staged optical illusion.

It's from a 2013 newspaper article, "Thunder Bay Wrestlers Gold Medal Winners," which they received at the Canada Summer Games.  No evidence of photoshopping or deliberate staging: the middle person is just very tiny.  His name is Marco, and he volunteers as a coach and referee in youth wrestling tournaments.

Coaches and referees are always adults, so he's not a child or a high school student.  He must be over 18.

This is the beginning of a mysterious journey through conflicting, constantly shifting ages.

1.  Marco is 24-26.  The Canada Games, held every two years, are like a national Olympics, with 1700 amateurs representing their province in athletics, baseball, basketball, diving, wrestling, and so on.  You have to be ages 13-20, so Marco was 18-20 in 2013.

2. Marco is 17-20.  There aren't many Marcos from Thunder Bay, Ontario, so it was easy to find his Facebook page.  Lots of beefcake photos, but no specific age information.

















A post from 2018 does state that he got a silver medal at the Junior Pan-American Championships in Fortaleza, Brazil.

The Junior Pan-American Championships, sponsored by United World Wrestling, are held every two years.  They are for athletes 16-19 years old.

So 17-20, or 24-26?  Which is it?








3. Marco is 20-21.  This post from May 2016 shows him at Prom with someone named Nikolas, who is now studying for his nursing degree.

Wait -- is Marco gay?

I don't know, but this isn't his prom date.  St. Patrick, a Catholic high school in Thunder Bay, would never allow same-sex dates at senior prom.  Nikolas must be just a bud.  But anybody who goes to senior prom in 2016 has to be 20-21 now.

20-21, 17-20, 24-26.  Curioser and curioser.


4. Marco is 22-24.  He must have graduated earlier, and went to someone else's senior prom.  Here is a photo of Marco from 2017, a year later, as a member of the wrestling team at Lakeland University, a public research university with 8,000 students.  He's in his third year, studying business commerce, hoping to become an entrepreneur.

A junior in college in 2017, but 16-19 in 2018?  Something does not add up.









5. Marco is 20-21.  In 2015, he initiates a  "Go Fund Me" that raises $3,777 to send Team Canada to a European competition.  He states that he's 16 years old and has been wrestling for the Lakehead Wrestling Club for 5 years.

So he coached youth wrestling as a child, played at the Canada Games in 2013 at age 13 (thus explaining why he's so tiny surrounded by adults), graduated from high school in 2016 at age 17, spend through college to be in his third year by 2017, and competed in the Jnior Pan Am games in 2018 at age 19.



That's quite a career.  Next question: what's with the hat?