Helen Maroulis hopes to change women’s wrestling in the United States after making history in Rio de Janeiro. Marzaliuk ended up sealing a 4-1 win on a late score. The clocked ticked down.
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A euphoric Maroulis won the gold.
It’s the second Olympic gold medal for Clement, another former Florida Gator (triple jump gold and silver medalists Christian Taylor and Will Claye ran track for Florida).
Yoshida was aiming to follow in teammate Kaori Icho’s footsteps by becoming only the second female athlete in any sport to win individual gold medals at four successive Olympics.
She won three earlier matches on Thursday to advance to the quarters against North Korea’s Jong Myong-Suk and then beat Sweden’s Sofia Mattsson in the semis to reach the final bout. It was a humbling experience. She capped the tournament with successive victories over the returning World runner-up and champion.
Maroulis, of Rockville, Md., is used to fighting for what she wants. When she started out in high school, few girls wrestled. Parents and other wrestlers taunted her.
“I was a training partner in London and I snuck up onto the mats to see what it was like and it was like the same mats that I trained on everyday”, Wiebe said.
Yoshida, a 13-time world champion and one of Japan’s most iconic Olympians, refused to be drawn on whether she would compete at the Tokyo Games in 2020, dwelling instead on the end of her incredible period of dominance. “She’s a hero. She’s the most decorated wrestler in the sport”.
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The Olympic Thursday upset marked the first match that Yoshida has lost after a solid four-year winning streak.
