CHIBA -- Yukako Kawai gave Japan's vaunted women's wrestling team its first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics, beating reigning world champion and Asian rival Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan in the 62-kilogram final on Wednesday night at Makuhari Messe.
Kawai scored a takedown in each period and held on for a 4-3 victory over Tynybekova, who was aiming to become the first Olympic gold medalist in any sport in the history of the former Soviet republic.
Kawai's victory kept alive a dream of her and older sister Risako winning Olympic gold medals together. Risako, a gold medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, was in the stands watching her sister's match, a short time after advancing to Friday's final of the 57-kg division.
"This is the best day of my life," Yukako Kawai said.
Kawai's win was the second over Tynybekova since losing to her in the third round at the 2019 world championships, which Tynybekova went on to win to become Kyrgyzstan's first-ever wrestling world champion. Kawai came back to win the bronze medal, adding to the silver she captured at the 2018 worlds.
This time, Kawai got to step up to the top of the medal podium. She scored a single-leg takedown late in the first period -- the first points Tynybekova conceded in four matches -- then added two more points in the second by countering her opponent's takedown attempt and spinning behind for a takedown.
Tynybekova gained a late takedown to cut the gap to 4-3, but Kawai, who had been overpowered by opponents in the past, held her own to secure the victory.
Before the 2018 world championships, when Kawai decided to move up to the Olympic weight class of 62-kg in a bid to make the Tokyo Olympics, her natural weight was still only about 59 kilograms. A finicky eater, she worked with a nutritionist and was put on a diet of six meals a day.
She started a regimen centered on running to strengthen the lower half of her body, and added weight training to build up overall strength. Her natural weight is now 64 kilograms, and she cuts the necessary weight just before tournaments.
"The moment that they tie up with her, her opponents no longer know what they should do," said coach Ryo Kanehama. Her rivals must be taken aback by how much she has progressed since the 2019 world championships.
At the Rio Olympics, Kawai watched from the stands as her older sister won a gold medal. This time, it was the older sister who got to see a magical moment for the family.
" After seeing my sister, my feeling that I want to win here only became stronger," Kawai said.
--Motivated by mother's scolding
The Ishikawa Prefecture native is the middle of three sisters, but was the last to start wrestling.
"Actually, I really didn't want to do it," Kawai recalled. "But I didn't have anyone to play with and I was lonely."
As a child, the 23-year-old Kawai preferred to draw or read, and even today likes to make dry flowers and other handicrafts. Comparing Yukako with her more active older sister, Kawai's mother Hatsue revealed, "She doesn't show it on the outside, but she really doesn't like to lose to Risako."
When Kawai was in junior high school and was determined to follow Risako into wrestling powerhouse Shigakuan High School in Aichi Prefecture, she lost at the national championships in her third year. The way she lost brought a rebuke from her mother, who said, "If you're going to have matches like that, it would be a waste to go to Shigakukan. Forget about going."
Kawai took the scolding in silence, but a few days later, said to her mother, "Let me go to Shigakukan. I want to get stronger." It would be the first step in the creation of a future Olympic champion.
At the time Kawai watched her sister win the Olympic gold in Rio, she felt she was well behind her in terms of ability, and thought achieving that result was a dream too far.
But it entered the realm of possibility in 2018, when she won a silver medal at her first world championships. When she won the bronze medal the following year, it clinched her place at the Tokyo Olympics.
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