Olympics & Paralympics

Japanese Freestyle Wrestler Akari Fujinami Wins Paris Olympic Gold; Father, Daughter Celebrate Win, Beam with Joy

Hiroto Sekiguchi / The Yomiuri Shimbun
Akari Fujinami celebrates her gold medal win with her father and coach, Toshikazu, at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.

By Tsukasa Sano / Yomiuri Shimbun Sportswriter

6:00 JST, August 10, 2024

PARIS — Akari Fujinami jumped and hugged her father, who is also her coach, after winning the gold in the women’s 53-kilogram freestyle wrestling on Thursday, extending her win streak to 137 official competitions.

Both Fujinami and her father, Toshikazu, 59, beamed with pure joy after she defeated Ecuador’s Lucia Yamileth Yepez Guzman in the final.

“I was going to tackle him, but I went for the hug,” Fujinami said. “I wanted to show my thanks.”

The 20-year-old reached the final in her Olympic debut with 136 consecutive wins. She overpowered Yepez Guzman by making use of her long arms and showed her amazing strength with her high-speed tackles.

After winning the first period 6-0, she won the match 10-0 in just 3 minutes and 37 seconds. It perfectly embodied the idea of “always aggressive wrestling” that father and daughter cultivated together.

Fujinami began wrestling when she was 4 years old, influenced by her father, who had won a Japan Games title, and her older brother.

In June 2017, she lost to her rival, a student a year older than her, in the final of the national junior high school championships by five points. Fujinami was especially upset because she had lost to the same opponent seven months prior.

That painful loss pushed her become stronger. After the match, she asked her father, with tears in her eyes, to help her improve.

“I want to win,” she said. “Please make me stronger.”

Hiroto Sekiguchi / The Yomiuri Shimbun
Akari Fujinami faces Ecuador’s Lucia Yamileth Yepez Guzman in the women’s 53-kilogram freestyle wrestling final at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.

After that day, they started training.

Toshikazu knew his daughter’s competitive nature, but he was surprised to see her unwavering determination to become stronger. No matter how rigorous her training regimen was, she battled through.

He promised himself, “I will follow my daughter’s dream to the end.”

The winning streak has continued ever since.

After winning in the final, an excited Fujinami said, “The Olympics are the best! Wrestling is the best! I’m glad I made it this far!”