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| Event type

Lightweight, Freestyle (≤55 kilograms), Women

Date22 – 23 August 2004
StatusOlympic
LocationOlympiako Gymnastirio Ano Liosion, Ano Liossia
Participants12 from 12 countries
FormatRound-robin pools, winner of each pool advanced to semi-finals. Runners-up in each pool advanced to classification round for 5/6 places.

The last four World Championships had been won by Japanese wrestlers, with Seiko Yamamoto winning in 2000-01, but she was then surpassed by Saori Yoshida, who won in 2002-03. In both her World titles, Yoshida had beaten American Tina George-Wilson in the final, but George-Wilson was beaten in the US Trials by Tela O’Donnell. The four pool winners advanced to the semi-finals, where Yoshida defeated France’s Anna Gomis in a close match, 7-6, and Canadian Tonya Verbeek beat Swede Ida-Theres Karlsson, 3-1. Neither medal match was close as Yoshida won the gold medal, 6-0, and Gomis won bronze by the same score.

In the early history of women’s wrestling Yoshida is considered the greatest ever practitioner. She would win Olympic gold again in this class in 2008 and 2012. Between 2002-14, she won 12 consecutive World Championships, and she also has four gold medals from the Asian Games. She retired in early 2014, but there has been some hint that she will return in 2016 to attempt to win a fourth Olympic gold medal. Her father, Eikatsu Yoshida, was a top international wrestler who finished fourth at the 1973 World Championships.

PosCompetitor(s)NOCCPTP
1Saori YoshidaJPNGold
2Tonya VerbeekCANSilver
3Anna GomisFRABronze
4Ida-Theres KarlssonSWE
5Sun DongmeiCHN
6Tela O'DonnellUSA
7Lee Na-RaeKOR68
8Tetiana LazarevaUKR34
9Olga SmirnovaRUS18
10Diletta GiampiccoloITA12
11Sofia PoumpouridouGRE02
DQMabel FonsecaPUR1

Round One (22 August 2004)

Pool A (22 August 2004)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCWinsLossesCPTP
1Tonya VerbeekCAN20824
2Tela O'DonnellUSA1153
3Olga SmirnovaRUS0218

Match #1 Tonya VerbeekCAN
grand superiority (11-1) (5:18)
Tela O'DonnellUSA
Match #2 Tonya VerbeekCAN
grand superiority (13-3) (3:43)
Olga SmirnovaRUS
Match #3 Tela O'DonnellUSA
fall (2-5) (4:26)
Olga SmirnovaRUS

Pool B (22 August 2004)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCWinsLossesCPTP
1Ida-Theres KarlssonSWE1156
2Tetiana LazarevaUKR2044
ACMabel FonsecaPUR0234

Match #1 Tetiana LazarevaUKR
decision (4-2) (6:00)
Ida-Theres KarlssonSWE
Match #2 2 Ida-Theres KarlssonSWE
fall (4-0) (0:31)
Mabel FonsecaPUR 3
Match #3 4 Tetiana LazarevaUKR
fall (0-4) (0:39)
Mabel FonsecaPUR 5

Pool C (22 August 2004)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCWinsLossesCPTP
1Saori YoshidaJPN20821
2Sun DongmeiCHN1134
3Diletta GiampiccoloITA0212

Match #1 Saori YoshidaJPN
grand superiority (11-0) (3:47)
Sun DongmeiCHN
Match #2 Saori YoshidaJPN
grand superiority (10-0) (6:00)
Diletta GiampiccoloITA
Match #3 Sun DongmeiCHN
decision (4-2) (6:00)
Diletta GiampiccoloITA

Pool D (22 August 2004)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCWinsLossesCPTP
1Anna GomisFRA20715
2Lee Na-RaeKOR1155
3Sofia PoumpouridouGRE0202

Match #1 Anna GomisFRA
decision (5-2) (6:00)
Lee Na-RaeKOR
Match #2 Anna GomisFRA
grand superiority (10-0) (3:47)
Sofia PoumpouridouGRE
Match #3 Lee Na-RaeKOR
fall (3-2) (2:32)
Sofia PoumpouridouGRE

Semi-Finals (23 August 2004)

Match #1 Tonya VerbeekCAN
decision (7-6) (6:00)
Ida-Theres KarlssonSWE
Match #2 Saori YoshidaJPN
decision (3-1) (6:00)
Anna GomisFRA

Final Round (23 August 2004)

Match 1/2 Saori YoshidaJPN
decision (6-0) (6:00)
Tonya VerbeekCAN
Match 3/4 Anna GomisFRA
decision (6-0) (6:00)
Ida-Theres KarlssonSWE
Match 5/6 6 Sun DongmeiCHN
decision (6-8) (7:52)
Mabel FonsecaPUR 7

Classification Round for 5/6 (23 August 2004)

Match #1 Sun DongmeiCHN
decision (4-3) (6:00)
Lee Na-RaeKOR
Match #2 8 Tela O'DonnellUSA
decision (7-10) (6:00)
Mabel FonsecaPUR 9