2016 U.S. OLYMPIAN - 53 kg W Maroulis gets job done down at 53 kg
by Gary Abbott Quietly, Helen Maroulis has been on a
nice long victory streak. The last match that she lost was at the
2014 World Wrestling Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, when she fell to Chiho Hamada of Japan in the semifinals. Maroulis recovered to win the World bronze medal, getting a 10-0 technical fall over Katarzyna Krawczyk of Poland. Since then, Maroulis has been unbeat-
able, including a gold-medal performance at the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas. She has won the gold at the Women’s World Cup, and international tournaments held in Russia, France, Cuba, Mongolia, Spain, Azerbaijan plus a number of domestic events. In order to achieve her dreams of win-
ning an Olympic gold medal, Maroulis had a tough decision to make this year. In 2013, when United World Wrestling announced that there would be six women’s weight classes at the upcoming 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Maroulis’ 55 kg weight class was no longer in the Olympic Games. She had a choice, going down to 53 kg
or up to 58 kg. In 2015, she stayed up at 55 kg and won her first World title. Although everybody assumed that Maroulis was going to drop, she did not make a move until the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City, Iowa. Ultimately, the decision was to drop down, not go up. “All of a sudden, it was getting closer,
and I didn’t think I could make 53 kg. My team had total confidence in me. They said to just stick to this plan. It’s scary. I am a wrestler. That is my profession. That is what I am expected to do, to know the diet stuff, to know my body. If I didn’t have my team, my coaches and the mentors that I had, I don’t know how I could have done this on my own,” she said In Iowa City, Maroulis smashed the
field on the way to the victory. In the championship best-of-three series, she defeated three-time U.S. World Team member Whitney Conder in two straight matches, 10-0 and 11-0 technical falls. “It feels great. To be honest, I thought it
would be all tears and everything, but what has been happening the last three weeks leading up to this was so emotion- al, I am just enjoying it. I am so thankful,” she said. In 2012, Maroulis was the favorite to make the U.S. Olympic Team at 55 kg,
but was upset in the Olympic Trials finals by Kelsey Campbell in the same facility, Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The victory put that memory in the distant past. “Since 2012, I can’t tell you how physi-
cally, emotionally and mentally how heart- breaking it was. The only memory I had of Iowa was just tears and I didn’t want to come back here. But it was good to come back, make comparisons and see areas you have improved in. You can make a resolution not to look back on a year, but imagine looking back four years. Three years ago, this affected me but now it doesn’t. It was so cool. God showed me to win a battle, take a bite. Win a battle, have some dessert. Stop, change per- spective and appreciate where you are and how far you have come on the route to where you want to go,” she said. The job was not yet done, however.
The United States had yet to qualify for the Olympic Games at 53 kg. Conder had not been able to place in the top five at the 2015 Worlds. Maroulis won a wrestle-off to compete
in the Pan American Olympic Qualifier but chose not to go, and Conder did not place in the top two at the 2016 Pan American Olympic Qualifier in March. “Making weight here is going to make it
a little easier the second time around. The first time is the hardest,” Maroulis told the media at the Olympic Trials. “I knew in the back of my mind, I had to do this step by step. I had to make this team first. I have always been planning for Mongolia as the next step on my journey.” Just two weeks after making 53 kg for
the first time at the Trials, Maroulis got back down to scratch weight again for the 1st World Olympic Games Qualifier in Ulan Baatar, Mongolia. Her performance in Mongolia was once
again dominant. After winning her opener against Alma Jane Valencia of Mexico, 8- 2, she dominated the next three matches with a pin and two technical falls. The semifinal win clinched her spot in the Olympic Games, a quick 28 second pin of Lilya Horshina of Ukraine. “I am relieved to have this process
taken care of. There was a bunch of dis- cussion about whether I was going to do the Pan Ams. I wrestled off for it, but then I didn’t do it. Then there was Trials and what weight? This just kind of capped off this part of the season. Now I can totally zone in on Rio,” she said.
Helen Maroulis waves to the crowd after winning the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Iowa. Tony Rotundo photo.
Maroulis took a business-type attitude
to the trip to Mongolia. “This is just a tournament. I had to
keep that foremost in my mind. It wasn’t about coming out to get some internation- al experience or get some competition. There was the pressure that you had to take the top two in order to qualify for Rio and we are running out of time to get licensed. But I just wanted to zone in on this competition, just wrestle and take it one match at a time. I definitely did not want to go to Turkey and make weight again. I wanted to go home and see my family for a week,” she said. She was pleased with her effort in Mongolia.
“Everybody helped me to get ready,
and I got it done. I felt great, better than I did at Trials. The weight cut went better. My wrestling felt more sharp. I am used to this weight now. I am looking forward to sharpening up everything even more and keying in on Rio,” she said.
USA Wrestler 7
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