is a Japanese

wrestler Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves diffe ...

and submission grappler. She is a four time World Wrestling Champion, two time Asian Wrestling Champion and an

ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship The ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship is an international submission grappling competition, organised by the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC). ADCC is considered one of the most prestigious No-Gi submission grappling tournaments in the world ...

medallist.

Family

Her father is Ikuei Yamamoto, who also competed in the Olympics as a wrestler. Her older brother is mixed martial artist

Norifumi Yamamoto was a Japanese mixed martial artist and kickboxer who competed in the bantamweight division of the UFC. He quickly gained popularity in the Shooto organization due to his aggressive, well-rounded style and controversial persona. He moved on to ...

. Her sister Miyuu Yamamoto is female wrestler and mixed martial artist who won three world titles and one Asian Wrestling Championship in her career.

Wrestling career

In four years from 1999 till 2003, she collected four

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

s 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 ...

. Because she lost at the Japan Queen's Cup to

Saori Yoshida is a Japanese former freestyle wrestler. Starting in 1998, she won almost every major competition, including three Olympic Games, four Asian Games, and 13 world championships, and became the most decorated athlete in freestyle wrestling history ...

, she was unable to participate at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

. In 2007, she got married and briefly retired. In 2009 she returned to competetion, and won a championship at the Poland Open.

Submission wrestling

In 2013, she participated in the "submission fighting" competitions sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Combat Club. She was under-60 kg champion at the

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

ADCC trials. She won the under-60 kg bronze at the 2013 ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship.

Coaching career

She was a coach with the US Women's Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Team before and during the 2016 Olympics.

Personal life

In 2006 she married

team handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a Handball goalkeeper, goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands ...

player Hideaki Nagashima and briefly retired. In 2007 they had a son. They were divorced in 2014. In 2014, she began a relationship with

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher

Yu Darvish , more commonly known as Yu Darvish (ダルビッシュ有), is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers, Lo ...

. On 29 July 2015, their son was born. In 2016, Darvish and Yamamoto married. They had four additional children by 2022.

Awards

* ''

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 (1999, 2000, 2001, 2003)

References

Japanese female sport wrestlers Living people 1980 births World Wrestling Championships medalists Martial artists from Kawasaki, Kanagawa Martial artists from Kanagawa Prefecture

Seiko , commonly known as Seiko ( , ), is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks, electronic devices, and semiconductors. Founded in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori in Tokyo, Seiko introduced the world's first commercial quartz wristwatch in 1969. Seiko is ...

21st-century Japanese sportswomen {{Japan-wrestling-bio-stub