Three gold medals were awarded in women’s freestyle wrestling at the 2016 Rio Olympics on Thursday. The women’s 53kg, 63kg and 75kg elimination rounds, repechage and medal matches all took place on the day, with Helen Louise Maroulis of the United States, Risako Kawai of Japan and Erica Elizabeth Wiebe of Canada taking the golds in those divisions, respectively.
2016 Olympic wrestling results: Helen Louise Maroulis wins gold for USA
Helen Louise Maroulis is the first woman to win Olympic gold in wrestling.
Maroulis bested Saori Yoshida of Japan in the gold medal match, giving Yoshida the silver medal. That match was considered a huge upset, and Maroulis will go down as the first woman from the United States to win a gold in wrestling.
The two bronze medals in the 53kg division were won by Sofia Magdalena Mattsson of Sweden and Natalya Sinishin of Azerbaijan. Mattsson bested Xuechun Zhong of China, while Sinishin took down Betzabeth Angelica Arguello Villegas of Venezuela.
Kawai took down Maryia Mamashuk in her gold medal match. The bronzes in the 63kg division were won by Yekaterina Larionova of Kazakhstan, who bested Elena Sergey Pirozhkova of the United States; and Monika Ewa Michalik of Poland, who took down Inna Trazhukova of Russia.
Guzel Manyurova of Kazakhstan took the silver medal in the 75kg division, failing to Wiebe. The final bronze medals awarded on the day went to Fengliu Zhang of China and Ekaterina Bukina of Russia. Zhang bested Vasilisa Marzaliuk of Belarus while Bukina took down Annabel Laure Ali of Cameroon.
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