{"id":18988,"date":"2021-08-17T14:38:50","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T05:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/athletic\/?p=18988"},"modified":"2021-08-17T15:00:05","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T06:00:05","slug":"%e3%80%90%e3%83%9e%e3%83%8b%e3%83%a5%e3%82%a2%e3%83%ab%e3%80%91%e3%80%8c%e8%a9%a6%e5%90%88%e7%b5%90%e6%9e%9c%e3%83%bb%e3%83%ac%e3%83%93%e3%83%a5%e3%83%bc%e3%80%8d%e3%83%95%e3%82%a9%e3%83%bc-31-44-51-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/athletic\/news-en\/2021\/08\/17\/18988\/","title":{"rendered":"Full of Waseda Pride, Wrestling Club Athlete Yui Susaki Wins Gold with Incredible Performance, Achieving Her Olympic Goal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Susaki\u2019s victory marks the first gold medal won by a Waseda female athlete (Photo by Kyodo News)<\/p><\/div>\n

Gold win in women\u2019s 50 kg wrestling marks first gold medal won by a female Waseda athlete at a summer Olympics<\/h2>\n

Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. August 7, 2021. Makuhari Messe A Hall, Chiba.<\/h5>\n

In the women\u2019s 50 kg wrestling final at the Tokyo Olympics, Waseda Wrestling Club athlete Yui Susaki (4th year student at the School of Sports Sciences) beat China\u2019s Sun Yanan 10-0 to clinch the gold.<\/p>\n

Susaki\u2019s victory marks the first gold medal won by a Waseda female athlete, including alumni, at a summer Olympics. Her first-place finish also marks the first gold medal won by a wrestling athlete from Waseda since Yojiro Uetake\u2019s gold victory at the Mexico 1968 Olympics.<\/p>\n

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Susaki\u2019s facial expression reflects her desire to win gold at all costs (Photo by Kyodo News)<\/p><\/div>\n

Susaki beat her opponent in a swift 10-0 technical fall, cementing her victory in one minute and 36 seconds. Not losing a single point from the first round onward, she finished in complete victory with a total count of 41-0.<\/p>\n

Having fulfilled her vow to \u201cwin gold at all costs,\u201d Susaki joyously waved to family over a display screen installed at the venue. On the screen were Susaki\u2019s father, Yasuhiro, and her sister, Mai, both of whom are former Waseda Wrestling Club athletes. Joined by her mother, Kazuyo, they were all overjoyed by Susaki\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the person I am today thanks to everyone who has worked with me. I\u2019m so thankful,\u201d Susaki said. \u201cThis is like a dream. I can\u2019t stop crying, but I will make sure I\u2019m ready to give my best smile at the awards ceremony,\u201d she added, concluding her match with a smile.<\/p>\n

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Susaki smiles at the awards ceremony (Photo by Kyodo News)<\/p><\/div>\n

Susaki: \u201cI really want to compete again.\u201d<\/h3>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so happy to show the gold medal to the family and friends who have believed in and supported me over the years. The gold medal is a like a dream; it doesn\u2019t feel real yet. The medal presenter Icho told me to give it my best next time, which really made me want to compete again. I had the honor of being flag bearer at the opening ceremony, and I had decided to try my best to appear with a smile at the closing ceremony as well, so I\u2019m happy that I\u2019ll actually appear there. Everyone\u2019s support gave me the strength to give it my all. Thank you so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Aiji Tanaka: \u201cA spectacular display of Waseda pride.\u201d<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I offer my sincere congratulations to Yui Susaki for her gold medal victory at the Tokyo Olympics.<\/p>\n

This was her first appearance at the Olympics, and she won the gold medal after climbing her way back from a loss at the national preliminary rounds which nearly eliminated her chances of competing at the Olympics. Susaki\u2019s spirit of perseverance, and her refusal to give up on her dream, despite the circumstances, not only inspired Waseda personnel and fans, but also young people around the world.<\/p>\n

Her father and sister were Waseda Wrestling Club athletes, and the pride for Waseda that Susaki has cultivated since childhood was on full display thanks to her unsparing effort. I wish her the best in her future endeavors.<\/p>\n

Aiji Tanaka
\nWaseda University President<\/p>\n

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Yui Susaki cheers after defeating Sun Yanan in a technical fall (Photo by Kyodo News)<\/p><\/div>\n

Head of Waseda Wrestling Club, Ren Hirayama (School of International Liberal Studies)<\/h4>\n

\u201cHonestly, I didn\u2019t think Susaki would be this formidable. Her decisive victory with technical falls in all four matches and a 41-0 finish will go down in wrestling history. Even Mikio Oda would have been impressed. I look forward to seeing Susaki continue to grow and become an even stronger competitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waseda Wrestling Club Coach, Tsukasa Sato<\/h4>\n

\u201cIt was a perfect match. She demonstrated the fruits of her training, particularly her ability to decisively rack up points. Many expected her to win a gold medal, so there was a lot of pressure, but she took the pressure head on and exceeded expectations. I\u2019m happy and proud. This wouldn\u2019t have been possible without the Olympics, so I\u2019m grateful to everyone who helped make it possible amid the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Athlete Competitive Results<\/h5>\n
\u25bdWomen\u2019s 50 kg weight class
\nYui Susaki (4th year student at Schools of Sports Sciences and Waseda Wrestling Club athlete): Gold Medal<\/h6>\n

Final:\u3000\u25cb\u300010 \u2013 0\u3000\u25cf Sun Yanan (China)<\/p>\n

Bio:<\/h6>\n

Yui Susaki is from Chiba Prefecture and graduated from Abe Gakuin High School. In her second year of junior high school, she moved away from home to attend the JOC Elite Academy Program, where she received special wrestling training. She won the World Championship in 2017 and 2018, the All-Japan Championship in 2018 and 2019, and the Emperor\u2019s Cup in 2019. She has yet to lose to a non-Japanese competitor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gold win in women\u2019s 50 kg wrestling marks first gold medal won by a female Waseda athlete at a summer Olympics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18960,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[207,172,225],"class_list":["post-18988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-olympicparalympic-en","tag-wrestling-en","tag-tokyo"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/athletic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/athletic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/athletic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/athletic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/athletic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18988"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/athletic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18991,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/athletic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18988\/revisions\/18991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/athletic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/athletic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/athletic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/athletic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}