Helen Maroulis of the United States who won the bronze medal in the 57 kg class of wrestling women held at the Tokyo Olympics on the 5th.

Last time, he was the player who prevented Saori Yoshida, who was said to be the absolute queen at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, to win the championship for the fourth time in a row.


This time, I overcame repeated injuries and stood on the stage in Tokyo.

Absolutely defeat the queen

Maroulis played against Mr. Yoshida, who was 33 years old at the time, in the final of the 53 kg wrestling women's class, which he challenged at the age of 24.


Maroulis has played against Mr. Yoshida twice so far and lost two.

Maroulis is said to have been practicing with Mr. Yoshida as a model since he started wrestling.


Maroulis thoroughly researched Mr. Yoshida's "high-speed tackle" in order to challenge the existence of such a longing.


And while surpassing the tackle with a solid defense, he took a momentary gap of the opponent and took points and defeated Mr. Yoshida to prevent the fourth straight victory and shocked the wrestling world.

Considering retirement from one after another

Maroulis will also win the well-known world championships, ensuring his position unwavering.

There came a trial.

Since 2018, there has been a long period of time when I couldn't practice due to repeated injuries, such as surgery on my thumb and shoulders one after another.


During the period of rehabilitation every day, it is said that he was retired from active duty.

Seeking the absolute queen

There was a reason why Maroulis, who was mentally driven, did not give up on the Tokyo Games.

It was because I wanted to get closer to the respected Mr. Yoshida, Kaori Icho, who won the Olympics for the fourth time in a row, and two Japanese players.



"I want to pursue what kind of scenery the two" Absolute Queens "who have been active in the front line of the competition have seen." With



that intent, I endured treatment and painful rehabilitation.


It was February last year that I was finally able to return to the competition.

While the tournament was postponed for one year due to the influence of the new coronavirus, he won the national team selection and seized the position of the American national team in the women's 57 kg class.



"I admire their tireless efforts to participate repeatedly. I think it's very difficult to participate after years of age. I wanted to know what it was like."

Great fight without winning two consecutive titles

It is said that this time we will face the game with a different feeling from the last time when it was said that the wrestling news star was born.

Maroulis, 29, said, "I'm proud to be here," and went up to the mat, grasping his own situation as he continued to compete.

In the first round, we played against a growing Chinese player who has won the world championships.

The previous gold medalist was unable to cope with the sharp tackle in the first half, leading two points.

The experience of overcoming an injury repels a predicament.


In the second half, he won by reversing, such as taking behind the opponent from a ground fight and accumulating points, and then broke through the second round.

In the semi-finals, we played against Risako Kawai of Japan, who won the gold medal in the previous women's 63 kg class.

Kawai is also a junior at Mr. Yoshida's university.


The last match between gold medalists was a tense development.

Maroulis responds to Kawai's quick tackle with a strong defense and does not give points.

Maroulis was unable to win the tournament for the second time in a row, losing 1 to 2 due to a point difference due to a penalty for a negative attitude.



Maroulis reaffirmed the size of his goal.



"I found it amazing to win gold medals many times like Mr. Yoshida and Icho."



Still, about the past few years of chasing the two people I admired, "Adversity has grown people. I was able to grow a lot as a person, "said Maroulis.

Without dragging the defeat of the semi-finals, he scored points one after another in the bronze medal and won the technical fall.

After the awards ceremony, he smiled with a relieved smile and said, "I did my best."



As for the future, he answered, "I love wrestling from the bottom of my heart. I want to continue if my body and mind are okay."

I would like to expect to see the two of them approaching each other at the Paris tournament three years later.