Clarissa Chun
| Clarissa KML Chun | |
|---|---|
| Born |
August 27, 1981 Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Website | Official site (Hawaii) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Billed weight | 48 kg (106 lb) |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women’s Wrestling | ||
Representing the  United States
|
||
| Olympic Games | ||
 |
2012 London | 48 kg |
| World Championships | ||
 |
2008 Tokyo | 48 kg |
| Pan American Games | ||
 |
2011 Guadalajara | 48 kg |
| Pan American Wrestling Championships | ||
|
2016 Frisco | 48 kg |
|
2012 Kissimmee | 48 kg |
|
2010 Monterrey | 48 kg |
|
2009 Maracaibo | 48 kg |
|
2008 Colorado Springs | 48 kg |
Clarissa Kyoko Mei Ling Chun (陳美玲; born August 27, 1981) is an American Olympic women's freestyle 48 kg (105.5 lbs) wrestler. She is the first female wrestler from Hawaii to win a medal at the Olympics.
Chun was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and raised in Kapolei, Hawaii. She is Asian-American. Her mother, Gail Higashi, is Japanese-American from Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi. Her father, Bryan Chun, is Chinese-American from ʻAiea, Oʻahu.
In 2008, Chun taught English to kindergarten students in Japan.
Chun came from a judo background, winning five junior national championships before she tried wrestling in her junior year at Roosevelt High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. She captured the state wrestling title in 1998, the first year girls wrestling was a sanctioned sport.
She attended Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Missouri and earned a communications degree from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
Chun was one of the charter members of the Valley program when it began in 1999, and was one of its most decorated. She placed second in the U.S. World Team Trials and medaled in both the U.S. Nationals and Pan American Games during all three of her seasons in Marshall—along with winning several college-level competitions.
Prior to her senior campaign, Chun accepted an invitation to attend the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, eventually earning her degree from the University of Colorado branch there.
After placing second in the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2004, the first year women's wrestling competition was held at the Games, she made the squad four years later.
At the 2008 U.S. Olympic wrestling team trials in June, Clarissa Chun, a diminutive athlete from Hawai'i, gained the admiration of fans and media alike by staging a huge upset of seven-time national champion and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Patricia Miranda. In the process, Chun, who stands 4 feet 11, fulfilled a lifelong dream, becoming the first wrestler from Hawai'i to qualify for a U.S. Olympic team.
Wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's freestyle 48 kg, after winning the first two matches, Chun fell to world champion Chiharu Icho of Japan in the semifinals in an overtime tiebreaker (last to score). She lost in the bronze-medal match to 2004 gold medalist Irini Merleni of Ukraine, and made her mark at the international level by finishing fifth.
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