Saori Yoshida

Saori Yoshida

File:Saori Yoshida (cropped).jpg Saori Yoshida with her coach Kazuhito Sakae after winning the 2008 Olympic gold
Personal information
Born	(1982-10-05) 5 October 1982 Tsu, Mie, Japan
Alma mater	Shigakkan University
Height
Weight	53 kg (117 lb)
Sport
Sport	Professional wrestling
Event(s)	Freestyle
Club	High School Wrestling Club Hisai Sogho Security Services ALSOK Tokyo
Coached by	Masanori Ohashi Shigeo Kinase Kazuhito Sakae Eikatsu Yoshida
Medal record Women's freestyle wrestling Representing Japan Olympic Games 2004 Athens 55 kg 2008 Beijing 55 kg 2012 London 55 kg 2016 Rio de Janeiro 53 kg World Championships 2002 Chalkida 55 kg 2003 New York 55 kg 2005 Budapest 55 kg 2006 Guangzhou 55 kg 2007 Baku 55 kg 2008 Tokyo 55 kg 2009 Herning 55 kg 2010 Moscow 55 kg 2011 Istanbul 55 kg 2012 Edmonton 55 kg 2013 Budapest 55 kg 2014 Tashkent 53 kg 2015 Las Vegas 53 kg Asian Games 2002 Busan 55 kg 2006 Doha 55 kg 2010 Guangzhou 55 kg 2014 Incheon 55 kg Asian Championships 2004 Tokyo 55 kg 2005 Wuhan 55 kg 2007 Bishkek 55 kg 2008 Jeju 55 kg

Saori Yoshida (吉田 沙保里, Yoshida Saori, born 5 October 1982) is a Japanese former freestyle wrestler. Starting in 1998, she won almost every major competition, including three Olympic Games, four Asian Games, and 13 world championships, and became the most decorated athlete in freestyle wrestling history. As of 2016, Yoshida had only three senior career losses in international competitions, to Marcie Van Dusen (0–2) on 20 January 2008 at the Team World Cup series, Valeria Zholobova (1–2) on 27 May 2012 at the World Cup, and to Helen Maroulis (1–4) on 18 August 2016 at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Yoshida was the flagbearer for Japan at the 2006 Asian Games and at the 2012 Olympics. In 2007, she became the first female wrestler to be named Japanese Athlete of the Year, and in 2012 she received the People's Honour Award.

Weight

Yoshida started competing internationally as a cadet, in 1998, in the 52 kg category. By 2002, when she moved to seniors, she competed in the 59 kg division. The same year, she lost 4 kg, and remained in the 55 kg category until 2014. She moved to the 53 kg class at the 2014 World Cup and World Championships as part of her preparation for the 2016 Olympics, where the traditional 48–55–63–75 kg scheme would be changed to 48–53–58–63–69–75 kg. However, two weeks after the World Championships she returned to the 55 kg category at the 2014 Asian Games, which kept the old weight divisions. Yoshida announced her retirement on Twitter in January 2019.

Family and public life

Yoshida is the daughter of Eikatsu Yoshida, a former national champion and wrestling coach. She started training in wrestling aged 3, following her father and two elder brothers. Since 2011, she has been a face of the ALSOK security group and regularly appears in their commercials.

In December 2008, the wrestling singlet which Yoshida wore in the Olympic final bout earlier that year, was sold for 551,000 yen (ca. US$6,123) at an internet auction, and the money donated to the Japanese Red Cross society.

In 2013, when the International Olympic Committee named wrestling as a candidate for exclusion from the Games, she became an active part of the Japanese lobbying team that persuaded the IOC to retain wrestling at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In May 2014, Yoshida made a cameo appearance in the Japanese television drama Tokyo Metropolitan Guard Center, and later wished to resume acting after retiring from wrestling.

Olympic Games/World Championship/Asian Games matches

Res.	Record	Opponent	Score	Date	Event	Location
2016 Olympic silver medalist at 53kg
Loss	89-1	Helen Maroulis	1-4	August 18, 2016	2016 Summer Olympics	Rio de Janeiro
Win	89-0	Betzabeth Argüello	6-0
Win	88-0	Isabelle Sambou	4-0
Win	87-0	Nataliya Synyshyn	9-0
2015 World champion at 53kg
Win	86-0	Sofia Mattsson	2-1	September 10, 2015	2015 World Championship	Las Vegas, NV
Win	85-0	Jong Myong-suk	5-2
Win	84-0	Anzhela Dorogan	11-0
Win	83-0	Nguyễn Thị Lụa	10-0
Win	82-0	Nadine Tokar	Fall
2014 Asian Games champion at 55kg
Win	81-0	Sündeviin Byambatseren	12-1	September 28, 2014	2014 Asian Games	Inchon
Win	80-0	Babita Kumari	14-4
Win	79-0	Phạm Thị Loan	Fall
Win	78-0	Zhong Xuechun	12-9
2014 World champion at 53kg
Win	77-0	Sofia Mattsson	6-0	September 10, 2014	2014 World Championship	Tashkent
Win	76-0	Jillian Gallays	Fall
Win	75-0	Natalia Malysheva	10-0
Win	74-0	Pang Qianyu	Fall
2013 World champion at 55kg
Win	73-0	Sofia Mattsson	5-0	September 19, 2013	2013 World Championship	Budapest
Win	72-0	Iryna Husyak	8-0
Win	71-0	Sündeviin Byambatseren	8-0
Win	70-0	Valeria Koblova	7-0
Win	69-0	Ana Maria Pavăl	8-0
2012 World champion at 55kg
Win	68-0	Helen Maroulis	Fall	September 28, 2012	2012 World Championship	Strathcona County, AL
Win	67-0	Nataliya Synyshyn	Fall
Win	66-0	Geeta Phogat	Fall
Win	65-0	Akziya Dautbayeva	Fall
2012 Olympic champion at 55kg
Win	64-0	Tonya Verbeek	3-0, 2-0	9 August 2012	2012 Summer Olympics	London
Win	63-0	Valeria Zholobova	1-0, 2-0
Win	62-0	Yuliya Ratkevich	1-0, 2-0
Win	61-0	Kelsey Campbell	1-0, 1-0
2011 World champion at 55kg
Win	60-0	Tonya Verbeek	0-1, 2-2, 3-2	September 15, 2011	2011 World Championship	Istanbul
Win	59-0	Ida-Theres Nerell	6-0, 6-0
Win	58-0	Alma Valencia	5-0, 7-0
Win	57-0	Helen Maroulis	Fall
Win	56-0	Emriye Musta	Fall
2010 Asian Games champion at 55kg
Win	55-0	Zhang Lan	5-0, 1-0	November 26, 2010	2010 Asian Games	Guangzhou
Win	54-0	Pak Yon-hui	Fall
Win	53-0	Liliya Shakirova	1-0, 7-0
Win	52-0	Batbaataryn Nomin-Erdene	4-0, 5-0
2010 World champion at 55kg
Win	51-0	Yuliya Ratkevich	2-0, 6-0	September 9, 2010	2010 World Championship	Moscow
Win	50-0	Maria Gurova	5-0, 3-0
Win	49-0	Tatiana Suarez	3-0, 7-0
Win	48-0	Tamara Kazaryan	6-0, 6-0
Win	47-0	Um Ji-eun	Fall
2009 World champion at 55kg
Win	46-0	Sona Ahmadli	3-0, 6-0	September 24, 2009	2009 World Championship	Herning
Win	45-0	Tonya Verbeek	3-0, 3-2
Win	44-0	Ana Maria Pavăl	Fall
Win	43-0	Anna Gomis	1-0, 2-1
Win	42-0	Maminirina Rafaliharisolo	8-0, 7-0
2008 Olympic champion at 55kg
Win	41-0	Xu Li	Fall	August 16, 2008	2008 Summer Olympics	Beijing
Win	40-0	Tonya Verbeek	2-0, 6-0
Win	39-0	Natalia Golts	2-1, 4-0
Win	38-0	Ida-Theres Nerell	3-1, 4-0
2007 World champion at 55kg
Win	37-0	Ida-Theres Nerell	8-0	September 21, 2007	2007 World Championship	Baku
Win	36-0	Alena Filipava	7-0
Win	35-0	Jackeline Rentería Castillo	7-4
Win	34-0	Joice Silva	10-0
Win	33-0	Jessica Bechtel	9-0
2006 Asian Games champion at 55kg
Win	32-0	Olga Smirnova	3-0, 6-0	December 11, 2006	2006 Asian Games	Doha
Win	31-0	Su Lihui	6-1, 2-0
Win	30-0	Alka Tomar	1-0, 5-0
2006 World champion at 55kg
Win	29-0	Mariya Ivanova	13-0	September 29, 2006	2006 World Championship	Guangzhou
Win	28-0	Ida-Theres Nerell	10-3
Win	27-0	Anna Gomis	3-1
Win	26-0	Natalya Golts	8-0
Win	25-0	Marcia Mendoza	6-3
2005 World champion at 55kg
Win	24-0	Lihui Su	6-0	September 28, 2005	2006 World Championship	Budapest
Win	23-0	Tonya Verbeek	4-0
Win	22-0	Ludmila Cristea	6-0
Win	21-0	Ana Maria Paval	4-0
Win	20-0	Rathi Neha	10-0
2004 Olympic champion at 55kg
Win	19-0	Tonya Verbeek	5-0	August 23, 2004	2004 Summer Olympics	Athens
Win	18-0	Anna Gomis	7-6
Win	17-0	Diletta Giampiccolo	10-0	August 22, 2004
Win	16-0	Sun Dongmei	11-0
2003 World champion at 55kg
Win	15-0	Tina George	5-2	September 12, 2003	2003 World Championship	New York City, NY
Win	14-0	Natalya Golts	3-2
Win	13-0	Jennifer Ryz	10-0
Win	12-0	Monika Michalik	4-0
Win	11-0	Kitti Godo	3-0
Win	10-0	Olga Serbina	10-0
2002 World champion at 55kg
Win	9-0	Tina George	10-4	November 11, 2002	2002 World Championship	Chalkida
Win	8-0	Ida-Theres Nerell	10-0
Win	7-0	Jennifer Ryz	11-0
Win	6-0	Minerva Perez	10-1
Win	5-0	Tatyana Lazareva	3-0
2002 Asian Games champion at 55kg
Win	4-0	Lee Na-lae	11-1	October 6, 2002	2002 Asian Games	Busan
Win	3-0	Alka Tomar	10-0
Win	2-0	Naidangiin Otgonjargal	7-0
Win	1-0	Sun Dongmei	10-0

Championships and accomplishments

• Tokyo Sports
  • Wrestling Special Award (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015)

See also

• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists in one event
• List of multiple Olympic medalists in one event
• List of multiple Summer Olympic medalists

External links

• Athlete Biography at beijing2008

Olympic Games
Preceded by Ai Fukuhara	Flagbearer for Japan London 2012	Succeeded by Keisuke Ushiro