Shoko Yoshimura
Japanese freestyle wrestler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shoko Yoshimura (吉村 祥子, Yoshimura Shoko; born 14 October 1968) is a retired Japanese Wrestler.[2] She competed in 10 World Wrestling Championships and won 9 medals, including 5 gold medals.[1][2][3]
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Shoko Yoshimura at 2018 Summer Youth Olympics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Native name | 吉村 祥子 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 14 October 1968 (age 57)[1] Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 153 cm (5 ft 0 in)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Japan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event | Freestyle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Biography
Yoshimura aspired to be a professional wrestler when she was at Seijo Gakuen High School because she admired the Crush Gals (Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka).[4] In 1986, She auditioned for Professional Wrestling, but was turned away because she was too short at 153 cm.[5] At that time, she was invited by former world champion Tomiaki Fukuda, which led her to start Amateur Wrestling instead of professional wrestling.[4][5] In 1987, she entered Seijo University.[1] That year, she competed and placed third at the first Women's World Championships in Oslo, Norway, in the 44kg weight class.[1][2] She won the 1989 World Wrestling Championships for the first time, followed by the 1990 World Wrestling Championships.[1][2] She also won three consecutive World Championships from 1993 to 1995.[1][2] She then had a period of time away from wrestling due to a knee injury, but continued to wrestle until 2004.[1][2] In 2009, she was inducted into the UWW (then FILA) Hall of Fame and has coached the Japanese women's national team since then.[2][3][6] Among others, she has personally coached Yui Susaki since she was 13 years old, who won the gold medal in the 50kg weight class at the Tokyo Olympics.[3]