Helen Maroulis

Helen Maroulis

Maroulis in 2016
Personal information
Born	(1991-09-19) September 19, 1991 (age 25) Rockville, Maryland
Alma mater	Simon Fraser University
Height	5 ft 3 in (160 cm)
Life partner(s)	Mitchell Rainwater
Sport
Country	USA
Sport	Wrestling
Club	Sunkist Kids
Coached by	Valentin Kalika
Medal record Women's wrestling Representing  United States Summer Olympics 2016 Rio de Janeiro 53 kg World Championships 2015 Las Vegas 55 kg 2012 Canada 55 kg 2014 Tashkent 55 kg Wrestling at the Pan American Games 2011 Guadalajara 55 kg
Updated on 1 July 2016.

Helen Louise Maroulis (born September 19, 1991) is a Greek-American freestyle wrestler who competes in the women's 55-kg and 53-kg categories. She was a gold medalist at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada and a gold medalist at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. 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.

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 and 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. She now trains 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 beat Saori Yoshida 4-1 to win a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Yoshida was the most decorated freestyle wrestler of all time (with gold medals from the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Olympics). This was the first Olympic gold medal for the United States in a women's wrestling event. Maroulis attributes a large portion of her success to the coaching of Valentin Kalika.