Local Star Helen Maroulis Wins Bronze Medal in Olympic Wrestling to Become First Ever U.S.A. 3x Medalist

August 9, 2024 – Photo credit NBC Broadcasting

As mentioned in our Olympic preview of 5 local athletes to watch, Helen Maroulis was born in Rockville and went to Magruder High School with MCPS.

She just won the bronze medal to become the first ever female 3x Olympic Medalist in the freestyle wrestling for the United States of America.

Here is her quick victory for bronze in 24 seconds. She broke barriers winning gold in the 2016 Olympics.

You can see her semi-final loss in full here and a text annotation of all of her matches here.

#WrestleParis
Maroulis gets Taylor to her back for the fall at 24 seconds for the bronze! She is now the first-ever three-time women's Olympic Medalist for @TeamUSA!!
Live @Peacock#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/k31X0ejI78

— USA Wrestling (@USAWrestling) August 9, 2024

Congrats Helen!

Per our previous post:

“Helen Maroulis was born in 1991 in Rockville, MD. Maroulis attended Magruder High School, where she became the first woman to place in the wrestling state championships as a freshman. She finished high school with 99 career wins. She began wrestling at the age of 7, where her brother asked her to stand in as his drilling partner; after that, she immediately asked her parents to put her in competitive wrestling.

She won 3 Junior World medals, winning bronze in 2008 and 2010, then silver in 2011. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, Maroulis won Team USA’s first gold medal in women’s wrestling. She then went on to win gold again in the 2017 World Championship. Then in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she won a bronze medal after defeating Mongolia’s wrestler in a match; this bronze medal made her the first woman in U.S. history to win 2 medals in wrestling.

 This year she won gold in the women’s 57 kg event at the Pan American Wrestling Championships. This summer she will be the first U.S. woman to compete in wrestling at three Olympic games.”

Here is an interview Maroulis did after winning the bronze:

Helen Maroulis Exclusive Interview After Winning Olympic Bronze pic.twitter.com/Z31b61MP46

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) August 9, 2024

MCPS Athletic Director also made a post:

.@MagruderAD & @MCPSAthletics alum Helen Maroulis wins bronze in wrestling, with a pin in 24 seconds! She is the 1st American wrestler to win 3 Olympic medals in women’s freestyle! Congratulations @helen_maroulis! 🥉
We are #MoCoProud! @MCPS @MontgomeryCoMD pic.twitter.com/pjIF878d1h

— Jeff Sullivan (@mcpsAD) August 9, 2024

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