Yukako Kawai

Yukako Kawai

250px Yukako Kawai at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Born	(1997-08-27) 27 August 1997 Tsubata, Ishikawa Prefecture
Height	162 cm (5.31 ft; 64 in)
Sport
Country	Japan
Sport	Amateur wrestling
Weight class	62 kg
Event(s)	Freestyle
Medal record Women's freestyle wrestling Representing Japan Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo 62 kg World Championships 2018 Budapest 62 kg 2019 Nur-Sultan 62 kg Asian Championships 2020 New Delhi 62 kg 2019 Xi'an 62 kg World U23 Championships 2018 Bucharest 62 kg

Yukako Kawai (川井 友香子, Kawai Yukako, born 27 August 1997) is a Japanese freestyle wrestler. She won the gold medal in the women's 62 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan.

In 2018, she won the silver medal in the women's 62 kg event at the World Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary. A year later, she won one of the bronze medals in this event.

Career

In 2017, she competed in the women's 63 kg event at the World Wrestling Championships in Paris, France without winning a medal. She won her first match against Elmira Gambarova but she was eliminated from the competition in her next match against Jackeline Rentería of Colombia. Rentería went on to win one of the bronze medals.

She won the gold medal in the women's 62 kg event at the 2020 Asian Wrestling Championships held in New Delhi, India. In the final, she defeated Ayaulym Kassymova of Kazakhstan.

In 2021, Kawai won the gold medal in the 62 kg wrestling division at the Tokyo Olympics. Her older sister Risako won gold in the 57 kg division the following day.

Achievements

Year	Tournament	Location	Result	Event
2018	World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	2nd	Freestyle 62 kg
2019	Asian Championships	Xi'an, China	2nd	Freestyle 62 kg
	World Championships	Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan	3rd	Freestyle 62 kg
2020	Asian Championships	New Delhi, India	1st	Freestyle 62 kg
2021	Summer Olympics	Tokyo, Japan	1st	Freestyle 62 kg