"Knowing I was going to have the same bed in the same place, I could learn the route. I was going to have the same people and friends in my life. I could really rest easy not worrying about packing my stuff in a box for the next place. It was a place I was going to stay a while."
But even after Mattern's life had settled into the routine of semi-normalcy, the surprises were far from over. On the way to the 1998 Junior Olympics, his birth mother shocked him by bringing in his biological father. A man that Mattern didn't even know existed until he was nearly 12 now wanted to be a part of his life. Mattern, neither welcoming nor hostile, traded e-mails with his father until he questioned some of the man's decisions, effectively ending the relationship.
Cody Mattern: "I put a lot of barriers up. I managed to not really think about it in any way that made me bitter . . . ."
(Patrick Sullivan -- The Oregonian)
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Happy to surround himself with those who had supported him throughout his adolescent years, Mattern once again turned to his adoptive family, which was actively involved in his blossoming fencing career.
Mattern's odyssey of a childhood had prevented him from establishing himself in team sports. Once he settled down with the Garcias, however, he joined Ben Garcia and another friend in picking up fencing, an individual sport that relies on creativity and quick thought. Though a latecomer, Mattern pursued the sport with a single-minded focus and determination that has lifted him to the athletic pinnacle.
"You don't really realize that even in a competition that you didn't do very well, there was something you did well that you can remember and improve on," Mattern said. "I'm always looking to find the positive and not repeat mistakes."
Because of the open-skill nature of the sport, almost anyone can win any given competition, including the Olympics. Mattern won the silver medal in March at a World Cup event in Vancouver, marking him as a potential medalist in Athens. While facing five of the top 10 fencers in the world in a single day, Mattern earned the best-ever result for an American man at an epee Grand Prix World Cup event.
"He's been coming along pretty steadily in his technique, his training," Marx said. "There's a confidence part that has to hit you. . . . [In Vancouver], he drew strong fencers right from the top. He beat the world champion from last year. I think that got his confidence going."
In a mixture of lessons learned through fencing and lessons learned through life, Mattern has made great strides in the last five years in his views of the world and his sport.
"He still has a good sense of family," Marx said. "He appreciates family more than people might appreciate [their] family. His family's going to go watch him [in Athens]. Knowing his background, I think that's going to be a strong motivation for him."
