Historic medal won in women’s freestyle wrestling

US wrestler Helen Maroulis won the first gold medal in women’s wrestling for her country, defeating Japan’s Saori Yoshida in the women’s 53kg division final Thursday.

Maroulis celebrated Thursday’s win by running around the mat in a circle and holding the United States flag with both hands while it was draped over her back.

In the 75kg division, Adeline Gray defeated Colombia’s Andrea Olaya, 4-0, in her first match, but lost to Belarus’ Vasilisa Marzaliuk, 4-1 in the quarterfinals.

Maroulis was on a two-year win streak of her own.

The 24-year-old Maryland native and rookie Olympian beat three-time reigning Olympic gold medalist Saori Yoshida of Japan in the women’s freestyle 53-kilogram weight class at the Rio Games. Her teammate Kaori Icho became the first with a gold on Wednesday.

That’s over now, and Maroulis has the title of Olympic champion.

Maroulis was down 1-0 after the first three-minute period due to a passivity warning, but a takedown early in the second gave her a 2-1 lead and she would not relinquish it. This was her first trip to the Olympics.

Russian-born US wrestler Elena Pirozhkova lost the 63kg bronze medal match to Ukraine’s Yekaterina Larionova by a 4-3 score after Maroulis’ match.