Helen Maroulis

Helen Louise Maroulis is an American freestyle wrestler who competes in the women's 55-kg, 53-kg, and 57-kg categories. She has won four gold medals at the World Championships, the first in 2015 and most recently in 2025. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she became the first-ever American to win a gold medal in women's freestyle wrestling at the Olympic Games.
She currently competes in the Flyweight division of Real American Freestyle, where she is the current RAF Women's Flyweight Champion.

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Background

Maroulis was born in Rockville, Maryland, the daughter of Paula and Yiannis "John" Maroulis. Her father is Greek. She attended Magruder High School for three years, where as a freshman she became the first female wrestler to place at the Maryland state wrestling championships. Maroulis was also named Most Outstanding Wrestler of a tournament, by pinning a senior boy who had won the year before, and finished high school with 99 career victories.
She then moved to Marquette Senior High School in Marquette, Michigan and then went to join Missouri Baptist University women's wrestling team in Saint Louis, Missouri, before ultimately transferring to compete for Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. At the age-group level, Maroulis was a three-time Junior World medalist. Maroulis converted to Christianity while in college, and found comfort in religion after failing to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
As of 2014, she trained at the U.S. Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University.
Her grandparents emigrated to the United States from the Greek island Kalamos in the 1960s. Maroulis visited her father's island a few weeks after her victory at Rio, and was given an award by the local community.

Rio Summer Olympics 2016

Maroulis beat Japan's Saori Yoshida 4–1 to win a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. This was the first Olympic gold medal for the United States in a women's wrestling event.

World Championship 2017

Maroulis won her third consecutive gold medal at the world championships or Olympics, defeating Olympic bronze medalist Marwa Amri of Tunisia in the final of the 58-kilogram/128-pound weight class with an 11-0 technical fall.

Pro Wrestling League

On January 16, 2018, Pooja Dhanda defeated Maroulis in the Pro Wrestling League.

World Championship 2018

Maroulis was defeated in the first round by fall by Azerbaijan's Alyona Kolesnik, a shocking upset for the defending world and Olympic champion. The defeat was attributed to a serious head injury. As Maroulis stated in post-match interview, "I'm so used to telling someone, hey, don't touch my head." The injury caused Maroulis to delay her world team qualifier match, and significantly limited her live sparring prior to the event. It was reported she was so limited by the injury that she only returned to live practice about 10 days before her rescheduled qualifying series.

Tokyo Summer Olympics 2020

Maroulis won a bronze medal by defeating Mongolia's Khongorzul Boldsaikhan after controversially losing to Risako Kawai of Japan in the 57 kg semifinals. With the bronze medal, Maroulis became the first female wrestler in U.S. history to win two Olympic medals.

Ivan Yariguin Grand Prix 2022

Maroulis won a gold medal in the 57 kg final by forfeit as her opponent Olga Khoroshavtseva of Russia withdrew.

Pan American Championships 2024

In 2024, she won the gold medal in the women's 57kg event at the Pan American Wrestling Championships held in Acapulco, Mexico. She defeated Giullia Penalber of Brazil in her gold medal match.

Paris Summer Olympics 2024

In 2024, she became the first female American wrestler to have qualified for three Olympics, upon qualifying for the 2024 Olympics. She qualified for the Olympics at the 2024 United States Olympic trials held in State College, Pennsylvania.
On August 9, 2024, she won the bronze medal in the 57 kg women's freestyle wrestling event with a victory over Hannah Taylor of Canada.

IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2024

Maroulis made her Brazilian jiu-jitsu debut at the IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2024, where she competed in the lightweight blue belt division. She won all five matches and a took a gold medal in her weight class.

Real American Freestyle 2025

She signed with Real American Freestyle, and defeated Samantha Stewart at RAF 02 to become the inaugural RAF Women's Flyweight Champion.

Match results