.@Helen_Maroulis beats 3-time Olympic champ Yoshida, becomes 1st USA women's Olympic champ https://t.co/rZ7VCfCDr4 pic.twitter.com/oJSstL31Ew
— USA Wrestling (@USAWrestling) August 19, 2016
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - It was a historic night for women's wrestling in the United States, as Helen Maroulis (Huntington Beach, Calif./Sunkist Kids) won the gold medal at 53 kg/116.5 lbs. at the Olympic Games on Thursday afternoon in Carioca 2 Arena.
She became the first American women's wrestler to win an Olympic gold medal, in the fourth Olympic Games featuring the sport. Not only did she smash the barrier for USA Wrestling, but to do so, she had to beat perhaps the greatest wrestler in the history of women's wrestling, three-time Olympic champion Saori Yoshida of Japan in the finals. For Maroulis, it was the stuff of dreams.