Saori Yoshida (吉田 沙保里, Yoshida Saori, born 5 October 1982) is a Japanese former freestyle wrestler. Starting in 1998, she won almost every major competition,^[4] including three Olympic Games, four Asian Games, and 13 world championships, and became the most decorated athlete in freestyle wrestling history.^[5] As of 2016, Yoshida had only three senior career losses in international competitions, to Marcie Van Dusen (0–2) on 20 January 2008 at the Team World Cup series, Valeria Zholobova (1–2) on 27 May 2012 at the World Cup, and to Helen Maroulis (1–4) on 18 August 2016 at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.^[6]

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Saori Yoshida

Saori Yoshida with her coach Kazuhito Sakae after winning the 2008 Olympic gold
Personal information
Born	(1982-10-05) 5 October 1982 (age 41) Tsu, Mie, Japan
Alma mater	Shigakkan University[1]
Height	1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)
Weight	53 kg (117 lb)
Sport
Sport	Professional wrestling
Event	Freestyle
Club	High School Wrestling Club Hisai Sogho Security Services[2] ALSOK Tokyo[1]
Coached by	Masanori Ohashi Shigeo Kinase[1] Kazuhito Sakae Eikatsu Yoshida[3]
Medal record Women's freestyle wrestling Representing  Japan Olympic Games 2004 Athens 55 kg 2008 Beijing 55 kg 2012 London 55 kg 2016 Rio de Janeiro 53 kg World Championships 2002 Chalkida 55 kg 2003 New York 55 kg 2005 Budapest 55 kg 2006 Guangzhou 55 kg 2007 Baku 55 kg 2008 Tokyo 55 kg 2009 Herning 55 kg 2010 Moscow 55 kg 2011 Istanbul 55 kg 2012 Edmonton 55 kg 2013 Budapest 55 kg 2014 Tashkent 53 kg 2015 Las Vegas 53 kg Asian Games 2002 Busan 55 kg 2006 Doha 55 kg 2010 Guangzhou 55 kg 2014 Incheon 55 kg Asian Championships 2004 Tokyo 55 kg 2005 Wuhan 55 kg 2007 Bishkek 55 kg 2008 Jeju 55 kg

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Yoshida was the flagbearer for Japan at the 2006 Asian Games^[1] and at the 2012 Olympics.^[7] In 2007, she became the first female wrestler to be named Japanese Athlete of the Year, and in 2012 she received the People's Honour Award.^[1]

Yoshida started competing internationally as a cadet, in 1998, in the 52 kg category. By 2002, when she moved to seniors, she competed in the 59 kg division. The same year, she lost 4 kg, and remained in the 55 kg category until 2014. She moved to the 53 kg class at the 2014 World Cup and World Championships as part of her preparation for the 2016 Olympics,^[8] where the traditional 48–55–63–75 kg scheme would be changed to 48–53–58–63–69–75 kg.^[9] However, two weeks after the World Championships she returned to the 55 kg category at the 2014 Asian Games, which kept the old weight divisions.^[4] Yoshida announced her retirement on Twitter in January 2019.^[10]

Yoshida is the daughter of Eikatsu Yoshida, a former national champion and wrestling coach.^[11][1] She started training in wrestling aged 3, following her father and two elder brothers.^[12] Since 2011, she has been a face of the ALSOK security group and regularly appears in their commercials.^[13]

In December 2008, the wrestling singlet which Yoshida wore in the Olympic final bout earlier that year, was sold for 551,000 yen (ca. US$6,123) at an internet auction, and the money donated to the Japanese Red Cross society.^[3]

In 2013, when the International Olympic Committee named wrestling as a candidate for exclusion from the Games, she became an active part of the Japanese lobbying team that persuaded the IOC to retain wrestling at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.^[5]

In May 2014, Yoshida made a cameo appearance in the Japanese television drama Tokyo Metropolitan Guard Center, and later wished to resume acting after retiring from wrestling.^[1]

• Tokyo Sports
  • Wrestling Special Award (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015)^[14][15]

• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists in one event
• List of multiple Olympic medalists in one event
• List of multiple Summer Olympic medalists