Courtesy Photo | Spc. Estrella Dorado Marin, left, was known for her competitive ferocity on the mat...... read more read more
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas – “Estrella” means star in Spanish, and Spc. Estrella Dorado Marin, a freestyle wrestler with the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program, was that bright light.
“She was just the sweetest person,” said her sister, Spc. Adriana Dorado Marin, a former WCAP wrestler. “I would always describe her as a saint. She never got into trouble, and the dedication with everything she did, that drove me to be like her.”
Estrella Dorado Marin, 21, passed Jan. 3 at North Suburban Medical Center in Thornton, Colorado, following complications related to emergency surgery. She had been battling numbness in her upper extremities due to blood clots, her family said.
“The U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program is devastated about the loss of Spc. Estrella Dorado Marin,” said Capt. Robert Cheseret, WCAP commander. “She was a great Soldier-Athlete who loved her family, loved her country, loved the U.S. Army, loved the sport of wrestling, and she meant a lot to the WCAP program.”
The passing of Estrella Dorado Marin, who enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2020 and joined WCAP in 2021, is especially devastating because this is an Olympic year. Her goal was to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Women’s Freestyle Wrestling Team at 53 kilograms and win Olympic gold in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, said Sgt. 1st Class Jermaine Hodge, WCAP women’s freestyle assistant coach.
“If I worked half as hard as she did, I probably would be an Olympic champion by now,” Hodge said. “I would say, hands down, she was probably the hardest worker that I’ve ever seen. Her work ethic was contagious, and when you see her working hard like that, you wanted to work just as hard as her, and no one was going to outwork her by any means. But they tried to emulate that.
“We have a saying in the wrestling room, and it says. ‘Rock is hard, water is wet, and wrestling is tough.’ And she was the epitome of that quote. When you talk about tough, she was tough,” Hodge said.
Her competitive ferocity on the mat resulted in silver medals at the 2022 Under-20 Pan American Games and 2023 Armed Forces Wrestling Championships, and a fifth-place showing at the 2023 U.S. Open in Las Vegas.
Just as her work ethic and competitive drive were contagious, so were her shy, artistic nature, devotion to her family and giggle, said Patricia Lopez, her aunt.
“Estrella was truly an innocent, beautiful soul,” Lopez said. “There was just nothing negative about her, and her passing leaves a hole in our hearts that will never be completely filled. There was so much she had to offer and wanted to do. She wanted to take family trips around the world, and she wanted to do translations for people. We lost someone so amazing.”
Dominique Lucero, sister to Estrella and Adriana, said she was blessed to have Estrella in her life.
“She really was an amazing sister, and I just really cherished out time together,” said Lucero, who is six years older. “We cooked together, and she was always wanting to try new recipes from different countries. We joked around with my husband, Dominic, and that filled my heart with happiness to see the relationship between them. She was also a great auntie to my baby, Dinaris, who’s 5 months old, and my stepdaughter Arianna, who’s 10. She just made sure everybody felt loved.”
Lucero took on more of a maternal role when their mother, Cindy, passed away in 2021.
“When my mom passed, I just wanted to get closer,” Lucero said. “I wanted them to know I loved them and that they weren’t alone. We had each other, and we grew really close. She was not only my sister, but she became my best friend. We’d spend hours on the phone together, and nothing or nobody will ever be able to replace the relationship we shared.”
The Dorado Marin sisters were less than a year apart in age – 349 days, to be exact – and they were always together growing up in the Denver area, Lopez said.
“They were two peas in a pod,” Lopez said. “If you saw one, you saw the other. They played together, no matter what. They bathed together, no matter what. A cousin of mine once said to me ‘You know, I can’t imagine one without the other.’ It’s true because Adriana lost her other half.”
Adriana emulated Estrella growing up, and when Estrella started wrestling at 12, Adriana soon followed. When Estrella enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2020 as a 92F, or fuel supply specialist, Adriana followed with the same military occupation specialty. When Estrella joined WCAP in 2021, Adriana joined in 2022.
The sisters were similar weights – Estrella at 53kg and Adriana at 55kg – and were often practice partners.
“Sometimes, we couldn’t practice together because we would go so hard that we would fight,” Adriana said. “She made it known her dream was to qualify for the Olympics. In high school, she had her plans set. She was so close. She was so technical, and she worked night and day to get everything perfect.”
WCAP is mourning the loss of Estrella Dorado Marin, but the best way to honor her going forward is for the program to support one another, Hodge said.
“What’s unique about the U.S. Army WCAP wrestling team is that we’ve always been a family,” Hodge said. “You don’t want stuff like this to happen, but you have to take something out of what has been so tragic to us. I think this is going to grow the team to be an even tighter family.”
| Date Taken: | 01.10.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 01.10.2024 09:26 |
| Story ID: | 461575 |
| Location: | FORT CARSON, CO, US |
| Hometown: | COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, US |
| Hometown: | DENVER, CO, US |
| Hometown: | FORT CARSON, CO, US |
| Web Views: | 4,608 |
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