Maroulis Falls in Semi, Will Wrestle For Bronze

Helen Maroulis will wrestle for bronze in the morning. Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo / WrestlersAreWarriors.com

by Derek Levendusky, AWW staff writer
Twitter: @AWWderek

When Helen Maroulis stepped on the mat in the 57 kg semifinal against Japan’s Risako Kawai, it was a battle of returning Olympic gold medalists. Kawai also has three world titles under her belt, winning the World Championships from 2017-2019. Meanwhile, Maroulis has two world titles on top of her Olympic gold, so the pedigree was palpable. Maroulis is up a weight class from 2016, and Kawai is down a weight. In the end it was a battle of shot clock points, with Kawai coming out on top 2-1.

With little action in the first period, Kawai was ahead 1-0 at the break. Then Maroulis was put on the clock early in the second period for the second straight time, an unusual decision for the official on the mat, as normally you’d expect to see the other wrestler put on the clock. But Maroulis failed to score again, creating a 2-0 deficit, a gap that felt a little wider against a master defensive wrestler like Kawai. The American scored late when Kawai was finally put on the clock, but it wouldn’t be enough, sending Kawai to the finals and Maroulis to one of the bronze matches.

Ironically, it was a Japanese wrestler, the legendary Yoshida, that Maroulis defeated in the finals of the 2016 Olympics.

Kawai’s sister also made the finals at 62 kg.

There were a lot of questions around Helen Maroulis heading into Tokyo. The returning gold medalist did not look herself when she competed in Poland in June, where she fell to Ukraine’s Tetyana Kit 8-2 and Nigeria’s Odunayo Adekuoroye 13-0. But she looked like a new wrestler with a new fire in the first two rounds, and by the time she stepped off the mat Tuesday night, both opponents had taken losses and Maroulis had advanced to the semifinals.

Maroulis defeated Kit 8-0 in the quarters, a remarkable turn around from her match with the Ukrainian only seven weeks ago. Meanwhile, the #2 seeded Adekuoroye lost by fall late in her opening round match after building up an 8-2 lead, a dramatic ending in a bout the Nigerian had seemed in control of.

Maroulis shot out of the gate in the first round with a win over the very tough Chinese opponent Ningning Rong. She overcame a slow start to storm back and win the match 8-4. U.S. women’s coach Terry Steiner has said that this would be an important match for Maroulis, knowing how tough her young opponent would be.

Maroulis will wrestle for bronze early tomorrow morning.