How East Bay taekwondo fighter CJ Nickolas became a gold medal contender at the Paris Olympics

For Brentwood’s Denise Nickolas, it was just another day as a single mom with two kids.

But for her son, CJ, now 22, those days still inspire him.

He remembers his mom working all day as a nurse and running her daughter, Christian, to gymnastics, and CJ to taekwondo. She would eat dinner out of tupperware in the car, then return home, where she’d work late at her desk until she fell asleep at the keyboard.

“That’s where I learned about hard work,” he said. “I wanted to work harder than her.”

This summer...