Like something straight out of a movie, the United States reached a major Olympic milestone on Thursday in Rio.
Helen Maroulis made history, becoming the first woman in U.S. history to earn a gold medal in wrestling. She defeated Saori Yoshida, who many thought was unbeatable, and for a while has been.
Yoshida is a three-time Olympic Gold medalist, having run roughshod over the 55 kg division for well over a decade, before competing at 53 kg in 2014. Yoshida has won the World Championships every year since 2002, outside of 2004. Yoshida is the winningest wrestler in history, regardless of gender or weight class.
Maroulis is no stranger to success, having taken gold at the 2011 Guadalajara Pan American games, and gold in the World Championships in Las Vegas in 2015.
Maroulis won 4-1 over Yoshida, who was in tears after the loss. Maroulis scored three points in the last 15 seconds of her quarterfinal matchup against North Korea's Jon Myon Suk to advance, then dominated Sweden's reigning world champion Sofia Mattsson 5-0 before pinning her to move to the finals.
Maroulis came into the games riding a two year winning streak, and dropped from 55 kg to 53 kg, as the International Wrestling Federation dropped the 55 kg class to make way for 53 and 58 kg.
