Match of the Day: Helen Maroulis becomes the first American woman to win Olympic gold in wrestling at the 2016 Rio Games

Photo of Helen Maroulis after capturing gold at the 2016 Olympic Games.

Had the 2020 Olympic Games taken place as originally scheduled, wrestling would be underway this week. With this in mind, let’s look at some historic matches from Olympics past.

Helen Maroulis winning gold at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was a historic moment for the United States and all of the wrestling world. With her victory, Maroulis became the first American woman to win gold at the Olympics since women’s wrestling was introduced to the Games in 2004.

Under any circumstances, the magnitude of this achievement would have be astronomical. However, what elevated this victory even further, was that it came over the most dominant wrestler of all time, three-time Olympic gold medalist and thirteen-time World champion Saori Yoshida of Japan.

Prior to this match, Yoshida had pinned Maroulis twice. The first time was during the round of 16 at the 2011 World Championships and the second was in the 2012 World finals.

In 2015, both wrestlers won World gold medals, with Yoshida competing at the Olympic weight class of 53 kg and Maroulis competing at 55 kg. For the Olympic Games, Maroulis made the descent to 53 kg, where she claimed gold. The following year, Maroulis moved up to 58 kg and won another World Title.

Watch Helen’s historic gold medal performance below: