Risako Kinjo

Risako Kinjo
金城 梨沙子
Personal information
NationalityJapanese
Born21 November 1994 (1994-11-21) (age 30)
Tsubata, Ishikawa Prefecture
Height160 cm (5 ft 3 in) (2016)
Weight61 kg (134 lb) (2016)
Sport
CountryJapan
SportWrestling
EventFreestyle
Medal record

Risako Kinjo (neé Kawai) (金城 梨沙子, Kinjo Risako, born 21 November 1994)[1] is a Japanese wrestler. She is a two-time gold medalist at the Olympic Games, a three-time gold medalist at the World Wrestling Championships and a four-time gold medalist at the Asian Wrestling Championships.

She finished second at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas[2] and represented her country at the 2016 Summer Olympics, winning a gold medal by defeating Maria Mamashuk of Belarus 3-0.

She celebrated her Olympic gold medal victory by delivering two fireman's carry takedowns to her coach (Kazuhito Sakae).[3]

Kawai's Olympic gold medal was one of four won by Japan's women's wrestling team at the 2016 Rio games.[4]

In 2021, Kawai won the gold medal in the 57 kg wrestling division at the Tokyo Olympics. Her younger sister Yukako had won gold in the 62 kg division the previous day.[5]

  1. ^ "Risako Kawai". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  2. ^ "2015 World Weightlifting Championships Results Book" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 May 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  3. ^ Video, Telegraph (19 August 2016). "Japanese wrestler Risako Kawai takes down her coach in celebration". The Telegraph.
  4. ^ "The Women of Japan's Wrestling Team Remain the Most Dominant Force on the Planet".
  5. ^ Landers, Serena (5 August 2021), "Wrestling: Risako Kawai Follows Sister Yukako in Winning Gold", Japan Forward