Helen Maroulis - The Comeback Kid
FREESTYLE WRESTLING - TEAM USA - OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST
ARCHETYPE: THE COMEBACK KID
Day 60/135
Athletic Accomplishments
As a freshman in high school, Helen Maroulis became the female wrestler to place at the Maryland state wrestling championships. She was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament, pinning the senior boy who had won the title in the previous year.
With 99 high school career victories, you could say she was whooping up on those boys.
Wrestling in the 53kg, 55kg, and 57kg weight classes, Maroulis went on to become a six-time U.S. Open champion and four-time WCWA women’s college national champion.
Maroulis won a gold medal at the 2011 Pan American Games. She has also won four medals at the World Championships, including a bronze in 2014, a silver in 2012, and two golds in 2015 and 2017.
But Maroulis’s crowning achievement is winning a gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, the first American woman to ever win gold in a wrestling event.
Character Archetype: The Comeback Kid
Helen Maroulis made history in the 2016 Olympic Games, as the first American to win a gold medal in women's freestyle wrestling. This summer, she looks to defend her title. But the road to Tokyo has been anything but easy.
In January of 2018, Maroulis suffered a serious concussion, causing significant brain trauma. Throughout most of 2018 and 2019, she remained sidelined by shoulder surgery and the lingering effects of her concussions, including headaches, difficulty processing light, and even post traumatic stress disorder. She told her mother she was retiring.
But as she got closer to Olympic trials, Maroulis was feeling healthy, medically cleared, and ready to get back in the ring. In her first competition in 16 months, she pinned the top woman in her weight class twice to reach Olympic qualifiers, where she wrestled with a torn MCL and still pinned her opponent within the first minute of the match.
It’s been a long road, but Maroulis is back. And you better know she’s here to win.