is a Japanese wrestler. She is a two-time gold medalist at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, a three-time gold medalist at the

World Wrestling Championships The World Wrestling Championships for Greco-Roman wrestling (men, since 1904) and freestyle wrestling (men since 1951, women since 1987) are organized by United World Wrestling (UWW). Unofficial editions Several World Greco-Roman Championships h ...

and a four-time gold medalist at the

Asian Wrestling Championships Asian Wrestling Championships is the Wrestling Asian Championship organized by the Asian Associated Wrestling Committee (AAWC). The men's tournament began in 1979 and The women's tournament was first staged in 1996, and it has been held every year ...

. She finished second at the

2015 World Wrestling Championships The 2015 UWW World Wrestling Championships were the 12th edition of World Wrestling Championships of combined events and was held from September 7 to 12 at Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada, in the Las Vegas Valley, United States. Medal table T ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

and represented her country at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, winning a gold medal by defeating Maria Mamashuk of Belarus 3-0. She celebrated her Olympic gold medal victory by delivering two fireman's carry takedowns to her coach (

Kazuhito Sakae is a Japanese wrestling coach and retired wrestler who won several medals in the 62 kg category at the Asian and world level between 1983 and 1989. Remarkably, at the 1983 Asian Wrestling Championships, he won a gold medal in the freestyle ...

). Kawai's Olympic gold medal was one of four won by Japan's women's wrestling team at the 2016 Rio games. In 2021, Kawai won the gold medal in the 57 kg wrestling division at the Tokyo Olympics. Her younger sister Yukako had won gold in the 62 kg division the previous day.

Championships and accomplishments

* ''

Tokyo Sports is a Japanese daily sports newspaper founded in 1960. See also * Tokyo Sports Film Award * Tokyo Sports Puroresu Awards References External links

* http://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp Official website 1960 establishments in Japan Da ...

'' ** Wrestling Special Award (2016, 2017)

References

External links

* * * * 1994 births Living people Japanese female sport wrestlers Wrestlers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic wrestlers for Japan Olympic gold medalists for Japan Olympic medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games World Wrestling Championships medalists Asian Wrestling Championships medalists 21st-century Japanese sportswomen Martial artists from Ishikawa Prefecture Asian Games bronze medalists in wrestling {{Japan-wrestling-bio-stub