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Ryohei Moriya / The Yomiuri Shimbun Yui Susaki, right, holds a leg of Ukrainian opponent at the bronze medal match in the women’s 50-kilogram freestyle wrestling in Paris.
By Atsushi Ueda / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
16:06 JST, August 8, 2024
Despite her comfortable victory to clinch the bronze medal in the women’s 50-kilogram freestyle wrestling, Yui Susaki could not crack a smile. She put her hands together in front of her chest and bowed repeatedly to the crowd in Paris. Susaki’s comeback from a stunning loss in her first match epitomized the grit and determination that had powered her to the gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021, but the disappointment at not winning consecutive Olympic titles was still too raw.
Susaki, 25, had intended for the Tokyo Olympics to be the culmination of her wrestling career. The wrestling venue was Makuhari Messe in her home prefecture of Chiba. But the moment Susaki stood on top of the podium in a venue devoid of spectators, she had a change of heart.
“Next time, I want to see this view in a venue packed with people,” she thought to herself.
Susaki stormed to the gold medal in Tokyo without conceding a single point. Her quest for consecutive Olympic titles was built on delivering similar displays of dominance. After becoming champion, Susaki’s opponents studied and analyzed her moves in more detail. More and more matches did not pan out quite as she had expected.
Hiroto Sekiguchi / The Yomiuri Shimbun Yui Susaki tears up after winning the bronze medal in the women’s 50-kilogram freestyle wrestling in Paris on Wednesday.
Susaki dedicated a lot of time to polishing her ability to quickly react and adapt during a match. She asked Misaki Yoshiba, a training partner since their high school days, to imitate certain wrestlers on the mat, including their movements before going for a takedown, their techniques and feints. “If they’re going to research how I wrestle, I should simply do research on them and stay ahead,” Susaki recalled of her plan to counter her opponents.
Susaki also began going overseas to train. She reached out directly through social media to wrestlers she admired, and traveled abroad by herself. “Jumping into an unknown world alone brings the greatest rewards, and it helped me to grow,” Susaki said.
Her destinations included the United States, Germany and Hungary. Even if she could not understand the local language, she learned about wrestling grips and takedown techniques. Susaki added more skills to her repertoire. “She was like a different athlete from the one who competed in Tokyo,” Yoshiba, 24, said admiringly.
Susaki was brimming with confidence when she arrived in Paris. “I’d improved every aspect of my wrestling. I was ready and knew that I could always win, whatever happened in a match,” Susaki recalled. But in her first match, Susaki lost to an opponent from India she had never faced before.
After that shock defeat, messages of encouragement from Susaki’s family and friends spurred her to keep going. “I initially thought there was no point if I wasn’t going to be the Olympic champion, but they supported me for just being myself,” Susaki said.
Since her debut in 2014, Susaki had won 24 international tournaments in a row and gone unbeaten against 94 wrestlers from overseas. Both of those streaks have ended, but Susaki is already determined to make amends for what unfolded in Paris.
“I’ll use this disappointment as motivation, and I’ll definitely win gold at the Games in four and eight years from now,” Susaki said. “That would be the ultimate way to repay everybody.”
