International Women's Day: Women ITOs, coaches, members rise at UWW
Sunday, March 9, 2025 - 13:53 By United World Wrestling Press
CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (March 8) -- United World Wrestling has made significant towards encouraging women's participating in spheres of wrestling, whether on or off the mat.
- In 2024, United World Wrestling sent its highest number of female International Technical Officers (ITOs) to 2024 Paris Olympic Games, marking 22 percent of the total wrestling ITOs.
- It also amended its constitution to reserve two more seats for women in the Bureau, thereby bringing the minimum number of women Bureau members to five. The number of vice presidents was also increased from the current number of five to six, including a minimum of two women vice presidents.
Read Full Report: Good governance at UWW - most women ITOs at Paris 2024, reserved seats in Bureau
United World Wrestling has been one of the most active international federation in the Women in Sport High-Performance Pathway (WISH) program.
- Out of the 124 coaches that benefited from the program, 12 are from wrestling. The coaches are from 60 nations representing the five continents and across the 33 Olympic sports.
- Three WISH alumni -- Happiness BURUTU (NGR), Marwa AMRI (TUN) and Jessica MEDINA (USA) -- made it to the Paris Games as coaches.
Read More: WISH Program in London
At the Bureau level, a historic milestone was achieved in women wrestling leadership in 2024. There were seven female candidates for the UWW Bureau, the supreme body of wrestling, marking the highest-ever participation by women in the process.
Kuniko Tanioka (JPN), Annette Kure (NOR), Lise Legrand (FRA), Cholpon Sultanbekova (KGZ), Buyana Peljee (MGL), Nadine Pietschmann (SUI) and UWW Vice-President, Natalia Yariguina (RUS) took part in the race for the Bureau role.
This was the first time that Women Lead Sports alumni being elected to NF president positions and the highest registered female candidates for the Bureau in the history. Rodica YAKSI (TUR) was promoted to Vice-President and Ye ZHANG (CHN) has two years left in her term.
Read Full Report: Big step in women’s wrestling leadership with new members in UWW Bureau
In different countries, women have take the leadership roles. The most significant among others is the appointment of Nadine PITSCHMANN (SUI) and Lise LE GRAND (FRA) as the presidents of Swiss and French federations, respectively.
Among other achievements, a women's wrestling camp was organized in India with Olympic champion Erica WIEBE (CAN) offering a masterclass. Young wrestlers from Jordan, Estonia, South Africa, Mauritius, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and hosts India attended the camp.
Read about the IIS-UWW camp: Wiebe inspires next gen at UWW-IIS camp in India
Diamantino IUNA FAFE (GBS) wrestling at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)
Farah HUSSEIN (EGY), blue, and Esther KOLAWOLE (NGR) are entered at 62kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)
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