Women's wrestling
Yui Susaki
Yui Susaki won Olympic gold at 50 kilograms in Tokyo and has been a world champion at the same weight. For a stretch she did not lose. In Paris, in 2024, she lost in the early rounds to Vinesh Phogat. She did not win a medal at those Games. The loss is part of the record. A run that long is a fact. So is the bout that ended the idea of it being permanent.
Japanese women's wrestling has lived inside that tension before. A standard, and then a day when the standard meets someone who has an answer. Saori Yoshida had a version of the day in Rio. Susaki had hers in Paris. They are not the same bout. They rhyme.
The portrait is an editorial likeness, not a photograph of the Paris bout.
Career highlights
- Olympic gold, Tokyo 2020, 50 kg
- World champion at 50 kg
- Lost in the early rounds in Paris 2024, unplaced