Award Season

Acosta, Adekuoroye and Amri Named 2017 History Makers

Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - 17:49 By Eric Olanowski

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Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR), Marwa AMRI (TUN) and Yasmani ACOSTA (CHI) have been named United World Wrestling’s History Makers for 2017.

Earlier this year Marwa Amri and Odunayo Adekuoroye became the first women from Africa to reach the gold medal bout of a senior world championship.

Amri, the Olympic bronze medalist, was the first woman from Africa to reach the world finals by besting two-time Asia champion Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ) 8-7 in the semifinals. Amri would finish the day with the silver medal at 58kg after being defeated by 2016 Olympic champion Helen MAROULIS (USA) in the finals.

In the 55kg semifinals, it was 2015 world bronze medalist Adekuoroye who picked up the technical superiority victory over Irina KURACHKINA (BLR), becoming the second African woman to reach the gold medal finals. Like Amri, Adekuoroye would also bring home the silver medal after dropping her finals match.

It was Yasmani Acosta, formerly of Cuba, who came to Paris with hopes of giving Chile their first-ever world medal in wrestling. Prior to the 2017 World Championships, Chile had never medaled in any style at any age level.

Acosta won three matches before falling to Heiki NABI (EST) in the semifinals. He grabbed Chile’s first ever world medal with a victory over Mykola KUCHMI (UKR) in the bronze medal bout.

#CanadaWrestling

Former world champion Di Stasio of Canada retires

Thursday, March 13, 2025 - 17:45 By United World Wrestling Press

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OTTAWA, Canada (March 13) -- After nearly 15 years of representing Canada, Justina DI STASIO (CAN) has decided to retire.

During her career, Di Stasio built an impressive resume that will go down as one of the all-time greats in Canadian wrestling history. The 32-year-old represented Canada at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Di Stasio won gold medal at the World Championship in 2018, a Pan-American Games gold medal in 2019 and Commonwealth Games gold in 2022. In addition, she is a multiple-time Pan-Am Championships gold medalist.

While there have been many memorable moments, a few stood out to Di Stasio, including her start with the national team, her win at the 2018 worlds, being coached on the national team by two-time Olympic medalist Tonya VERBEEK (CAN), and making her first Olympics in 2024.

“Winning worlds was a special moment, especially because I could hear my parents cheering from the stands," Di Stasio said. "It reminded me of my tournaments as a kid. It also helped me frame everything in my life better. I realized it is about the journey and not the destination. It was amazing to feel the way I did on that one day, but it was only one day. I had worked so hard in the lead up, but I realized I had to enjoy those days too. I still wanted to be the best in the world and I never didn’t train like it, but from that point, I made sure to enjoy my wrestling every day.”

That love for the sport kept Di Stasio going despite setbacks that stalled her dream of competing at the Olympics. After failing to qualify for the Rio and Tokyo Games, Di Stasio qualified for Paris 2024, eventually finishing 12th.

“Making it to the Olympics came with lots of pressure, but good pressure. I had won everything else and trained every day thinking I could be an Olympic champion. Even though it was a heart-breaking result, I know I couldn’t have worked harder and that helped me accept the result. I would have loved to make it there when I was younger, but I think I needed to be more mature to handle the result.”

Read full news on Wrestling Canada Lutte website.