Japan Wrestling: Teenager Taizo Yoshida Looks to Keep Japan’s Gold Rush Going

By Yukihiro Tagami / Yomiuri Shimbun Sportswriter

12:07 JST, December 31, 2024

Among Japan’s highlights at last summer’s Paris Olympics was the stunning performance by its wrestlers, who grabbed eight of the 18 gold medals up for grabs and 11 medals overall. A rising star has recently emerged who is aiming to keep that gold stream flowing through the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

Teenager Taizo Yoshida captured the Greco-Roman 82-kilogram gold at the Emperor’s Cup All-Japan Championships, held Dec. 19-22 at Tokyo’s Yoyogi No. 2 Gym to complete a historic double of titles.

The senior at Takamatsu Kita High School in Kagawa Prefecture had previously won the gold at the Meiji Cup All-Japan Invitational Championships last May, making him the first male high schooler in history to win both senior national titles, according to the Japan Wrestling Federation.

“I like being that I’m the first in history to do something, so I’m really happy,” said a beaming Yoshida, who has already found success on the senior level internationally.

The sturdily built 1.76-meter Yoshida had participated in sumo as a child, and had incorporated that experience in his style of Greco wrestling, which forbids the use or grabbing of the legs. The combatants spent much time chest-to-chest, working for an opening.

“Through sumo, I learned to judge the pushing power of the opponent and maintain a feel for where I am on the mat,” Yoshida said.

The 18-year-old Yoshida, who won the world under-17 gold at 80 kg in 2023, stepped up to the senior level for the first time in April last year and captured the gold at the Asian Championships in the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek.

In October, he turned heads and added more global experience by finishing fifth at the Non-Olympic Weight Category World Championships, held for the four of the 10 weight classes (including Greco 82 kg) in each style that are not on the Olympic program.

Yoshida is looking to follow in the footsteps of a Takamatsu Kita predecessor, Nao Kusaka, who went from relative obscurity to Olympic champion by taking the Greco 77-kg gold at the Paris Olympics.

Kusaka, 24, is a product of powerhouse Nippon Sports Science University, which Yoshida will be attending from the spring. Yoshida traveled at times for practice with Kusaka at NSSU, which he still uses as a training base.

“As I will be able to practice in the same environment as an Olympic champion, I will put everything I have into wrestling and aim for victory at the Olympics,” Yoshida said.

The closest Olympic weight classes to 82-kg are 77-kg and 87-kg, and Yoshida has not yet decided which way he will go when plotting his path to Los Angeles. The possibility exists he could become a rival of Kusaka’s as well as a practice partner.

“I want to go with Nao and for both of us to become champions,” Yoshida said.

After his victory in the Emperor’s Cup final, Yoshida set out on a victory lap of the mat. Held up like a cape was a towel with Kusaka’s image that his supporters brandished in the stands at the Paris Olympics.

It was a tribute to someone whom he has such a deep respect, and a sign that the two will push each other to further glory.