Women's wrestling
Saori Yoshida
Saori Yoshida won Olympic gold in 2004, 2008 and 2012, and silver in Rio in 2016, where Helen Maroulis beat her in the final. She won thirteen world titles. She retired in 2019. The numbers are so large they stop meaning anything until you remember they were collected one bout at a time, mostly at 55 kilograms, with the Olympic years at 53.
Japanese women's wrestling built a standard in those years. Other countries spent a decade trying to look like it. Some of them eventually did, which is a compliment to the standard and not a reduction of it.
There will not be a fake action photograph of her on this site. The portrait is a portrait. The record is the record.
Career highlights
- Olympic gold 2004, 2008, 2012
- Olympic silver, Rio 2016
- Thirteen world titles
- Retired 2019