USA Women’s Freestyle Preview at 2024 Olympics
2024 Paris Olympics • Women’s Freestyle Preview
WIN Publisher Bryan Van Kley and WIN assistant editor Tristan Warner will be in Paris to provide updates of the Paris Olympics.
The following is a preview of all six Americans who will represent the United States in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France, at the Champ de Mars Arena. This also includes what dates each will compete as each weight will last two days: through semifinals on first day and medal matches on second day.
Sarah Hildebrandt • 50k/110 pounds (Aug. 6-7)
Age: 30 (born Sept. 23, 1993), Granger, Ind., New York AC
Sarah Hildebrandt
Other: Two-time WCWA champ and four-time finalist for King University; defeated Audrey Jimenez (SKWC) at Olympic Trials.
Olympic/Worlds Experience: Went 3-1 at 50k and earned a bronze medal at the 2021 Tokyo Games; has competed in six World Championships, going 13-8. Four-time World medalist: silver in both 2018 (53k) and 2021 (50k) and bronze in both 2022 (50k) and 2023 (50k); also finished 10th in 2016 (55k) and ninth in 2019 (53k). All-time record of 16-9. Also competed in the 2012 and ’13 Junior Worlds.
2021 USA result at this weight: Hildebrandt won her first match, 12-1, before losing 10-7 to China’s Yanan Sun. She came back to dominate her repechage, 12-2, and her bronze-medal match over Evin Yavuz (Turkey), 11-0.
All-time USA medalists at this weight: bronze by Patricia Miranda (2004), Clarissa Chun (2012) and Sarah Hildebrandt (2021).
Top Competition: Yui Susaki (Japan), the 2021 gold medalist, remains the favorite after she added World titles in 2022 and 2023 to go along with World titles in 2017 and 2018; Dolgarjavyn Otgonjargal (Mongolia), a two-time World silver medalist, fell to Susaki in both 2022 and ’23 (when she beat Hildebrandt, 7-5); Feng Zigi (China), a 2023 World bronze medalist; Mariya Stadnik (Azerbaijan), the 36-year-old is competing in her fifth Olympics after earning silver medals in 2012 and 2016, to go with bronze medals in 2008 and 2021.
Dominique Parrish • 53k/116.5 pounds (Aug. 7-8)
Age: 27 (born Nov. 5, 1996), Scotts Valley, Calif., Beaver Dam RTC/Sunkist Kids WC
Dominique Parrish
Other: Two-time WCWA champ (2018-19) from Simon Fraser University; two-time California state champ (2014-15) from Scotts Valley High; defeated Haley Augello at Olympic Trials.
Olympic/Worlds Experience: First Olympics; competed in the last two Worlds, winning gold in 2022. Overall record of 4-1. Also competed on three U23 World Teams (2017-19), finishing as high as fifth in 2018.
2021 USA result at this weight: Jacarra Winchester went 2-2 and finished fifth in Tokyo.
All-time USA medalists at this weight: gold by Helen Maroulis in 2016.
Top Competition: Akari Fujinami (Japan) won World championships in 2021 and 2023 and earned the Olympic spot with a win over 2021 Olympic champ Mayu Shidochi in June of 2023. A foot injury kept her out of 2022 Worlds, won by Parrish; Antim Panghal (India) earned a bronze medal in 2023 after beating Parrish; Pang Qianyu (China), 2021 Olympic silver medalist.
Helen Maroulis • 57k/125.5 pounds (Aug. 8-9)
Helen Maroulis
Age: 32 (born Sept. 19, 1991), Rockville, Md., Sunkist Kids WC
Other: Became first female wrestler to place in Maryland boys state tournament for Magruder High before attending Marquette High at Marquette, Mich. Wrestled in college at Northern Michigan, Missouri Valley and Simon Fraser University in Canada; defeated Jacarra Winchester at Olympic Trials.
Olympic/Worlds Experience: Career record of 39-10. Became first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal over Japan’s legend Saori Yoshida in 2016 before earning a bronze medal in the 2021 Tokyo Games. 8-1 Olympic record. Competed in 10 World Championships, claiming seven medals (three gold in 2015, ’17 and ’21, two silver in 2012 and ’22 and two bronze in 2014 and ’23). Also wrestled in 2011 (fifth), 2013 (7th) and 2018 Worlds. Career Worlds record of 31-9.
2021 USA result at this weight: Maroulis won two straight matches before losing 2-1 to Japan’s eventual gold medalist Risako Kinjo in the semis. She came back to dominate Mongolia’s Khongorzul Boldsaikhan, 11-0, in the bronze-medal match.
All-time USA medalists at this weight: bronze by Helen Maroulis in 2021.
Top Competition: Tsugumi Sakurai (Japan) has won the last three World championships, including over Helen Maroulis, 3-0, in the 2022 gold-medal bout and in the semis of the 2023 Worlds; Anastasia Nichita (Moldova), after finishing seventh at the 2021 Tokyo Games, she won the 2022 Worlds at 59k and was a 2023 World silver medalist (who lost 3-2 to Sakurai in the final); Odunayo Adekuorove (Nigeria), who coaches at Muhlenberg College, is competing in her third Olympics and is a four-time World medalist.
Kayla Miracle • 62k/136.5 pounds (Aug. 9-10)
Age: 28 (born April 26, 1996), Bloomington, Ind., Sunkist Kids WC
Kayla Miracle
Other: Four-time WCWA champ while wrestling for her father Lee Miracle at Campbellsville; defeated Macey Kilty at Olympic Trials.
Olympic/Worlds Experience: Went 0-1 at 2021 Games in Tokyo; Competed in four World Championships, highlighted by two silver medals (2021, ’22). Also wrestled in the 2019 and 2023 Worlds but did not place. Overall Worlds record 9-4. Miracle competed in eight age-group Worlds, highlighted by silver medals at the Cadet level in 2012 and 2023 U23 Worlds and bronze in both the 2014 and 2016 Junior Worlds.
2021 USA result at this weight: Miracle lost her only match, 3-2, to Jia Long of China.
All-time USA medalists at this weight: silver by Sara McMann in 2004; bronze by Randi Miller in 2008.
Top Competition: Aisuluu Tynybekova (Kyrgyzstan) will compete in her fourth Olympics and could be the favorite after winning the 2021 Worlds (beating Miracle 7-0 in the final) and 2023 Worlds after finishing second in the 2021 Tokyo Games, she was fifth in Rio in 2016; Sakura Motoki (Japan), 2022 U20 World champ, who finished second to Tynybekova in last year’s Worlds; Grace Bullen (Norway), a refugee from Eritrea (northeast Africa), has competed in seven World Championships, claiming silver in 2022 and bronze in 2023.
Amit Elor • 68k/149.5 pounds (Aug. 5-6)
Age: 20 (born Jan. 1, 2004), Walnut Creek, Calif., NYCRTC/TMWC
Amit Elor
Other: Youngest American woman to win a Senior World championship in 2022 (18) before adding a second World title in 2023; seven-time age-group World champion (2021 U17 and U20, 2022 U20 and U23, and 2023 U20 and U23); 2019 California state champ for College Park High School; defeated Forrest Molinari at Olympic Trials.
Olympic/Worlds Experience: First Olympics; won gold medals at both the 2022 and ’23 Worlds at 72 kilos. 8-0 career Worlds record.
2021 USA result at this weight: Tamyra Mensah Stock became the first Black woman to claim Olympic gold when she scored 10 points in her first three bouts before beating Nigeria’s Blessing Oborududu, 4-1, in the gold-medal bout.
All-time USA medalists at this weight: gold by Tamyra Mensah Stock in 2021.
Top Competition: Nonoka Ozaki (Japan) won the World championship at 65 kilos in 2023 after also winning the World title at 62 kilos in 2022; Buse Tosun (Turkey) won the 2023 World title at 68 kilos after finishing seventh at the 2021 Tokyo Games; Nigeria’s Blessing Oborududu will be competing in her four Olympics. But after earning silver in 2021, she has failed to place in the last three Worlds.
Kennedy Blades • 76k/167.5 pounds (Aug. 10-11)
Age: 20 (born Sept. 24, 2003), Broadview, Ill., Sunkist Kids WC
Kennedy Blades
Other: Had success against boys in Illinois before finishing prep career at Wyoming Seminary, where she won a 2019 Prep National title; defeated two-time Olympian (silver in 2021) and six-time World champ Adeline Gray at Olympic Trials.
Olympics/Worlds Experience: First Olympics and Senior-level event; competed in four age-group Worlds; highlighted by 2021 Junior World championship; also earned U23 silver in 2023 and bronze at the 2023 U20 Worlds; she placed seventh in 2019 Cadet Worlds.
2021 USA result at this weight: Competing in her second Olympics, Adeline Gray won three straight bouts, including by a 3-2 score in the semis before losing 7-3 to Germany’s Aline Focken in the finals.
All-time USA medalists at this weight: silver by Adeline Gray in 2021.
Top Competition: Yuka Kagami (Japan) won the 2023 World championship after beating Adeline Gray in the quarterfinals. One year earlier, she earned bronze at the 2022 Worlds; Yasemin Adar (Turkey) earned an Olympic bronze in 2021, then claimed a World championship in 2022; Aiperi Medet Kyzy (Kyrgyzstan) finished second to Kagami last fall after finishing fifth in the 2021 Tokyo Games.
