[2024 Paris Olympics Slideshow]It’s Higuchi Rei! It’s Sakurai Tsugumi! Japan’s wrestling team has won their fifth gold medal at this tournament!!!

On the 9th, Rei Higuchi (28, Miki House), a men’s freestyle 57kg wrestler, defeated Spencer Richard Lee (USA) 4-2 in the final, winning the long-awaited gold medal. For Higuchi, this was a revenge for the silver medal he won at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He made his second Olympic Games after being rejected from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. He overcame the pain of losing weight and finally reached the top. The gold medal that Higuchi won was Japan’s 200th gold medal, including summer and winter. Tsugumi Sakurai (22, Ikuei University assistant) of the women’s 57kg class defeated Anastasia Nikita (Moldova) 6-0 in the final on the 9th, winning the long-awaited gold medal in her first Olympic Games. This is the fifth gold medal won by Japanese wrestlers at this tournament, following Fumita, Kusaka, Fujinami, and Higuchi. This is the most gold medal won in a single tournament, tying the record set by the 64th and 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Also on this day, Higuchi Rei (28, MIKIHOUSE) won gold medals in wrestling, and Yuasa Ami (25, dancer name AMI) won gold medals in the new sport of breaking. Sakurai, who was the last to perform on the 15th day of the tournament due to time constraints, won her 16th gold medal of the tournament. This brings her number of gold medals won to 16 at an Olympic Games held overseas, tying her record with the 2004 Athens Games. Get the latest news from Sponichi Annex https://www.sponichi.co.jp/ Sponichi’s Twitter https://twitter.com/sponichiannex