Top Stories of the Decade

Wrestling Introduces New Weight Categories, Gender Equity, and Ranking Series

Sunday, December 29, 2019 - 14:09 By Eric Olanowski

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CORSIER-SUR -VEVEY, Switzerland (December 29) -- The growth of international wrestling since 2010 has required a number of changes, but few have seemed to impact as many wrestlers and fans as the addition of weight categories, expansion of women's opportunities, and the introduction of a yearlong competition calendar, knowns as the Ranking Series.

 Heading into the 2017 World Championships in Paris, Wrestling enjoyed eight weight categories in each style, with six aimed at Olympic participation. During a bureau meeting at the event, it was decided to increase that total allotment to 10 weight categories and slightly shift a number of weight categories across the styles to better match anticipated participation. The additional weights also prompted a two-day format with same-day weigh-ins.

"These improvements made are incredible for the sport of wrestling," UWW President Nenad Lalović said at the time. "Our sport has never been stronger, and I believe that with the new categories and the improved competition format we will see continued growth in participation, support and viewership. I also believe these new rules will also encourage healthier wrestlers."

Another significant shift in the sport came with the launch of the Ranking Series in 2018, which uses four previously independent events, plus the world and continental championships to determine a points champion for the season. The rankings also determine the top seeds at the world championships and Olympic Games. 

“The Ranking Series makes it easier for fans, athletes, and coaches to understand the impact of each tournament and match," said Lalovic.

The Ranking Series was tweaked heading into the 2019 season with more weight placed on the number of participants to help determine the ultimate allocation of points per event. The shift proved prescient as participation in the events more than doubled in 2019.

As of 2019, the points earned from the World Championships, Continental Championships and Ranking Series events are as follows:

Wrestling’s growth hasn’t been contained to competition formats. In an effort to ensure better governance and compliance with IOC norms, wrestling has reached out to female leaders around the world to ensure their participation in the sport’s growth. Wrestling has utilized national federations, IOC-backed initiatives, and created an annual Women in Wrestling Global Forum to ensure increased outreach and education of women in the wrestling community.

“The past few years has seen wrestling provide more opportunities to female leaders and competitors than ever before,” said UWW Development Director Deqa Niamkey. “I’m pleased with our growth and looking forward to the next ten years!”

In addition to professional opportunities for women in wrestling, there has also been a much-increased focus on their mat achievements. From photos to stories to documentaries the women of wrestling are covered equally to men and have enjoyed several breakout moments, including many listed in the Top Ten Stories of the Decade.

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Paris Olympic Champ Sakurai Retires at Age 24

Sunday, April 5, 2026 - 09:12 By Ken Marantz

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TOKYO (April 4) -- Having never really regained the motivation that led her to achieve her ultimate goal of an Olympic gold, Tsugumi SAKURAI (JPN) has decided to retire at the tender age of 24.

Sakurai, the women’s 57kg champion at the Paris Olympics, has announced that she will hang up her singlet and begin a second career nurturing a new generation of wrestlers and serving as a goodwill ambassador of sports for her native Kochi Prefecture in western Japan.

“After 21 continuous years, I feel I have reached the cutoff point of my wrestling career, so I have decided to retire,” Sakurai said at a press conference Friday at the Kochi Prefecture government office.

“I gave everything I had for the Olympics, and I was able to experience the feeling of achievement and the ultimate joy. It's difficult to win the Olympics without determination. I couldn't get back to the mindset I had before Paris. That is the biggest reason [for retiring].”

Known for her steely aggressiveness belying a quiet demeanor, and a wicked use of a 2-on-1 arm bar, Sakurai prefaced her triumph in Paris by winning three consecutive world titles, at 55kg in 2021 and back-to-back golds at 57kg in 2022 and 2023.

A U17 world champion in 2016, she won golds at the Asian Championships and Asian Games in 2022 and 2023, respectively, but suffered the second of just two career international losses at the 2024 Asian Championships, where she fell to Yongxian FENG (CHN) in the final.

She bounced back five months later for her crowning achievement in Paris, where she defeated 2016 Rio Olympic champion Helen MAROULIS (USA) 10-4 in the semifinals, then took the gold with a 6-0 victory over Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) in a rematch of the 2023 world final.

Making the win in Paris even more special was the fact that not only did Sakurai strike gold, but so did another Japanese wrestler who started the sport together with her at the kids wrestling club in Kochi run by her father.

Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN), the freestyle 65kg champion in his Olympic debut, and Sakurai became the toast of Kochi, a rural prefecture fronting the Pacific on the island of Shikoku. They were paraded through the streets of the prefectural capital of Kochi City and hailed as heroes.

Like almost all of Japan’s medalists in Paris, the two took time off from the sport to run the gauntlet of TV interviews and variety shows, and just chill out in general. Sakurai, who returned to Kochi and started graduate studies in sport sciences at Kochi University, was particularly slow in returning to the mat.

In what would prove to be her first – and last – competition after Paris, she won the 57kg title at the second-tier Japan Women’s Open in October 2025, ostensibly to qualify for the Emperor’s Cup All-Japan Championships the following December. That would be the starting point for domestic qualifying for major global tournaments.

But Sakurai never made it to the Emperor’s Cup, and has now fully turned the corner on a new career.

“Over the past year, this decision was made after talking to many people, fretting about it, and thinking things through,” she said.

Sakurai said that as an extension of her father’s Kochi Wrestling Club, she wants to run a series of clinics outside of the city, mainly in her hometown of Konan just to the east of Kochi, to expose more children to wrestling and help it grow.

“Aside from wrestling, I'm learning so many things in graduate school right now, so I want to acquire a wide range of knowledge so that I can give back to Kochi Prefecture properly,” Sakurai said. “I think there will be various problems when I put things into practice, so I want to acquire solid knowledge so that I can solve those problems.”

Fans at this week’s Asian Championships in Bishkek will see another product of the Kochi Wrestling Club in action in Moe KIYOOKA (JPN), Kotaro’s younger sister and a former world champion who will be looking to add the 53kg gold to the one she won at 55kg in 2024. She and Sakurai were also teammates at Ikuei University.

And the name Sakurai might soon be appearing on the world stage again. Her younger sister, Tsukino SAKURAI (JPN), won the Asian U15 title last year.