Top Stories of the Decade

Helen Maroulis Makes History, Upends Saori Yoshida at Rio 2016

Thursday, December 26, 2019 - 14:19 By Ken Marantz

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 23) -- Helen MAROULIS (USA) went into the 53kg final at the Rio 2016 Olympics knowing about as much as one could about her opponent. Granted, it wasn't hard to be familiar with Saori YOSHIDA (JPN), given that with three Olympic and 13 world golds to her name, she was already among the most famous wrestlers on the planet. And the American had some first-hand knowledge, having lost to Yoshida by fall in two previous meetings.

But Maroulis knew that if she wanted to fulfill her dream of becoming the first American woman to win an Olympic wrestling gold, the path had to go through Yoshida, so she did extra homework on the superstar, including having videos interviews translated so she could better understand what made her tick.

"I knew the match would be more mental than anything else, because she's really smart," Maroulis said in a FloWrestling documentary after the match. "I don't think she likes when people attack her, and I don't think she's wrestled someone in over a decade who believed they could beat her, and I'm like, I have to show her that."

Maroulis, 24 at the time, took her own advice and took the fight to the 34-year-old Yoshida, and it paid off with one of the biggest upsets of the Olympic wrestling tournament. Maroulis scored a pair of second-period takedowns in a dramatic 4-1 victory before a raucous crowd at Rio's Carioca Arena.

For Maroulis, it was redemption for having failed to make the U.S. team four years earlier. For Yoshida--and Japan as a whole--it was a heartbreaking defeat that prevented her from matching the previous day achievement of compatriot Kaori ICHO (JPN), who became the first woman in any sport in Olympic history to win four consecutive Olympic golds.

In the first period, Yoshida got in deep on a single-leg, but Maroulis prevented her from finishing it off. A short time later, Yoshida received a point with Maroulis on the activity clock, and the period ended with Yoshida leading 1-0.

Early in the second period, Yoshida tried to shrug past Maroulis. Maroulis slipped to the side and as she started going behind, Yoshida reached back for a headlock, but Maroulis pulled her head out and gained control as the two tumbled to the mat for a 2-1 lead. With just over a minute left, Maroulis crossed over for an inner thigh hold and forced out Yoshida for what was originally ruled a 1-point stepout, but was revised to a 2-point takedown.

In the final 20 seconds, Yoshida again got in on a single, but just as she did earlier, Maroulis applied a whizzer and forced a non-scoring stalemate. When the buzzer sounded, both wrestlers flopped to the mat in tears, obviously experiencing vastly different emotions.

As a bewildered Maroulis finally got to her feet, her coach Valentin Kalika ran onto the mat and warmly embraced her. Her success can be directly linked to coming under the tutelage of the Russian.  The two had worked together before he invited her to a training camp in 2014 in the Russian wrestling hotbed of Dagestan.

A suicide bombing in the volatile region had led USA Wrestling to advise her against taking the trip, and her father also strongly opposed. But the desire to become an Olympic gold won out and she went, although she did take the extreme precaution of changing out of her USA warmup jacket during a stopover at Moscow airport.

Kalika was awed by such dedication. "Man, this girl came to die [just] to win Olympics. Not many men would do that. She became my hero."

And, during the three-week camp -- which concluded without incident --- he officially became her coach. The results were tangible, as she won the world title in 2015 at 55kg, adding to her silver from 2012 and bronze in 2014. (She would add another gold in 2017.) Her biggest decision was which weight class to make her Rio challenge and, consulting a nutritionist and others, made the choice to go down to 53kg.

That put her on a collision course with Yoshida, who was on a mission of her own. Aside from the historic significance of a fourth Olympic gold, Yoshida wanted to dedicate the victory to her father, who had died suddenly at 61 five months before the Rio Games. Eikatsu YOSHIDA, a former national champion, had been a coach and confidante since she started the sport at age 3 (that's him on her shoulders during her victory lap at the London 2012 Olympics).

Her father taught her the attacking style that led to her unrivaled success, and she felt she had sullied his memory by failing to score a takedown in the Rio final. As she wept uncontrollably in her mother's arms after the match, she could be heard saying, "Father is angry with me." The tears continued on the medal podium, and in interviews on Japanese TV.

The loss to Maroulis would be Yoshida's only one in her career to a non-Japanese in an individual tournament, as her two other defeats came at World Cups. It would also be her last match, as she announced her retirement in January this year.

Trailblazer Epp Mae retires as Estonia's top wrestler

Tuesday, January 28, 2025 - 13:16 By Vinay Siwach

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ESTONIA (January 28) -- European champion and two-time World Championships medalist Epp MAE (EST) announced her retirement earlier in January at an emotional press conference in Tallinn. She left her shoes on the mat, symbolizing retirement from wrestling.

The 32-year-old is Estonia's most successful wrestler in Women's Wrestling, winning gold at the European Championships in 2021 and silver medals in the 2017 and 2022 editions. She also has a bronze medal from 2019.

At the World Championships, Mae became the first Estonian wrestler to win a medal, enter the final, and even have two medals. She won silver in the 76kg in 2021, plus three bronze medals in 2015, 2019, and 2022.

"The day I announced my retirement was very emotional and hard because something so big in your life came to an end," Mae told UWW. "I knew that I was about to retire because I was expecting a baby. But it was difficult to stand in front of the people and say that this part of my life has ended, so announcing was harder than deciding it inside myself."

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Epp Mäe (@eppmae)

Mae is a two-time Olympian for Estonia. She made her Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio Games and finished 13th. She improved to eighth at the 2020 Tokyo Games. For the 2024 Paris Olympics, Mae tried qualifying in the 76kg weight class but failed to achieve that. Her last international competition was the World Olympic Qualifier in May in Istanbul.

"To be honest, I did not expect my career to be this long, as it is," she said. "I did not have any role models in female wrestling in Estonia when I was growing up. So I had no idea whether it was possible to earn money or live from wrestling and how far it was possible to go from my country. I dedicated my life and my career to wrestling as much as I could. An athlete should know it's time to step down. It aligned for me with a wish to start a family."

Epp MAE (EST)An emotional Epp MAE (EST) announcing her retirement in a wrestling club in Tallinn on January 9. (Photo: ERR / Siim Lõvi)

Mae took up wrestling after her father, a former wrestler, pushed her into the sport. However, there were no partners to train with and Mae did not have any national competitions. She even trained in judo and sumo just to get training.

When Estonia did start a national championship in women's wrestling, Mae dominated, winning it 12 times in her career. For other sports, she is a four-time Estonian sumo champion, a four-time Estonian beach wrestling champion, and has also been an Estonian judo champion on one occasion.

"I have always laughed that the population of Estonia is 1.3 million and I am one in a million to choose to do something like this and be successful," she said. "Coming from a small nation, it is not easy to break through to the top. Most likely you don't have training partners at home. you have to travel a lot away from your country and get to train at a level that you need to succeed."

Epp MAE (EST)Epp MAE (EST), red, wrestling at the 2014 World Championships in Tashkent. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Martin Gabor)

Internationally, Mae made her debut in 2007 at the U17 European Championships, winning a bronze medal in the 70kg weight class. She began her senior career at the Yasar Dogu in 2011 and won a silver medal at 72kg at the age of 18.

In 2012, Mae clinched the U20 European Championships and remains the only Estonian wrestler to win gold at the continental event at any age group. A decade later, she reached the final of the World Championships at 76kg, marking another historic landmark in Estonian wrestling.

"As I said there was no one in front of me to lead the way, I am happy that I went through everything to get to places and results that I managed to and kind of make a path for all the girls from Estonia who will ever wish or have this doubt whether it is possible to get that far," she said. "I am happy that they have a path already in front of them. I wish that they would want to go bigger and further than I did. I will be more than excited and happy if someone did do that."

Epp MAE (EST)Epp MAE (EST) wrestling in the 2021 World Championships final at 76kg in Oslo. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Tony Rotundo)

Reflecting on her career two-decade-long career, Mae did share her disappointment of not winning a medal at the Olympics but was happy to have achieved what she has for Estonia.

"My father recently told a journalist that what I did [in wrestling] was against the odds because we did not have all the possibilities and facilities a bigger team would have," she said. "So I think I did good in my career by achieving the results that I did. Little sad that I did not win a medal at the Olympics. But I can leave wrestling knowing that I gave everything. There is never going to be any doubt that what if I could have done this or that."

Now off the mat, Mae will concentrate on her family and follow the sport from afar.

"I will keep following wrestling and the wrestling friends I have made during the years. I will keep following them," she said. "For Estonia wrestling, I wish all the girls in different age groups we have right now will be motivated just to go as far as possible and always try to achieve the best for you. I will try to help Estonian wrestling as I can and I hope they will not stop developing Estonian female wrestling."