Obituaries

Hitomi Obara, Japan’s Wrestling Legend, Suddenly Dies at 44

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Hitomi Obara holds up the gold medal she won at the 2012 London Olympics in the women’s 48-kg division.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:34 JST, July 20, 2025

Women’s wrestling legend Hitomi Obara, a gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympics and eight-time world champion, has suddenly died, sources close to her said on Saturday. She was 44.

The Self-Defense Force Physical Training School (PTS), where Obara was serving as women’s coach, said she died on Friday. The PTS said it was withholding the cause of death “out of consideration for the privacy and emotions of the bereaved family.”

Obara, a mother of two, was born in the wrestling hotbed of Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and helped make Chukyo Women’s University (now Shigakkan University) the premier women’s wrestling power in Japan.

From 2000 to 2008, she won six world titles at the non-Olympic weight of 51 kilograms under her maiden name of Sakamoto. She attempted to make the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 55-kilogram class, but was thwarted both times by Chukyo teammate Saori Yoshida.

Devastated, she retired in 2008, but returned in 2010 with the aim of qualifying for the London Olympics in the 48-kilogram. Paving the way was the fact that her younger sister Makiko, a two-time world bronze medalist at 48-kg whom she never wanted to supplant on the national team, decided to retire in 2009.

The drop to 48-kg entailed great difficulty in cutting and maintaining her weight, but Obara, who got married in 2010, went on to win world titles in 2010 and 2011. She then took the gold in London with a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Azerbaijan’s Mariya Stadnyk, after which she retired for good.

In a visit back to her junior high school in January last year, Obara told the students, “If you keep doing what you love to do and never give up, you can achieve your dream.”

After retirement, Obara stayed on at the PTS as the women’s coach. She also became a director of the Japan Wrestling Federation, and in June, was appointed coach of the women’s national team along with fellow Hachinohe native and four-time Olympic champion Kaori Icho for the run-up to the Los Angeles Olympics.

In 2022, she was inducted in the United World Wrestling’s Hall of Fame along with Yoshida and Icho.