Kaori Icho after winning gold in Rio (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Kaori Icho, the only woman to earn individual gold medals at four Olympics, will be competing at a major wrestling event for the first time since the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, according to multiple media reports.
The 34-year-old Japanese sports star is expected to enter the All Japan Women's Open Championships in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Oct. 13-14, 2018, KyodoNews.com reported Tuesday.
Winners of that competition advance to the All Japan Championships in December, which in turn serves as the qualifier for the World Championships in 2019… prelude to the 2020 Olympics to be held in Tokyo.
Icho is women's freestyle wrestling's "golden girl." She has won Olympic gold four times -- 2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing, and 2012 London at 63 kilograms/138.6 pounds, and 2016 Rio at 58 kilograms/127.6 pounds. In addition, Icho has claimed ten gold medals at World Championships at 63 kilograms from 2002-2013, and at 58 kilograms at the 2014 and 2015 Worlds.
KyodoNews reports that Icho is entertaining the idea of wrestling at a still-lighter weight class than 58 kilograms as she has in recent years.
If Icho were to wrestle at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and win gold, she would become the first athlete -- male or female -- to win top prize in individual competition at five separate Olympic Games. She is already the oldest woman to win Olympic gold.
As InterMat reported in April, Icho was the subject of harassment by a director of the Japan Wrestling Federation, the Olympic organization governing the sport in Japan. Kazuhito Sakae, development director for the federation, was forced to resign the same day the Japan Wrestling Federation confirmed the accusations, some dating back to January 2018, which Sakae and the organization had denied until now.
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