Sofia Magdalena Mattsson (born 11 November 1989) is a Swedish

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spo ...

, who has won a World Championship, four European championships and an Olympic bronze medal.

Profile

Born in

Gällivare Gällivare (; fi, Jällivaara; se, Jiellevárri or ; smj, Jiellevárre or ; fit, Jellivaara) is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,449 inhabitants in 2010. The town w ...

, she is one of the highest-ranking female wrestlers in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. She wrestles in the 48 kilo division for the

Gällivare SK Wrestling Gällivare (; fi, Jällivaara; se, Jiellevárri or ; smj, Jiellevárre or ; fit, Jellivaara) is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,449 inhabitants in 2010. The town w ...

club, coached by Håkan Johansson and Kalle Taivalsaari. Since 2001, she has won eleven Swedish National Championships (six at cadet level, two at junior level and three at senior level). In 2007 she competed at the European Championship in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. ...

, her first ever international championship at senior level. Despite her young age and inexperience, she won her first match; however, in the following match she was defeated by the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

n wrestler

Larisa Oorzhak Lorisa Byurbyuyevna Oorzhak (russian: Лориса Бюрбюевна Ооржак; born August 10, 1985) is a female wrestler from Russia. External links bio on fila-wrestling.com Living people 1985 births Russian female sport ...

(who went on to win the gold medal). In the repechage, Mattsson defeated her other two opponents and won the bronze medal. In August 2007, Mattsson became Junior World Champion for the second time after she defeated the Japanese wrestler

Fuyuko Mimura Fuyuko (written: 冬子 lit. "winter child" or 芙由子) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese writer *, Japanese painter *, Japanese biathlete {{given name Japanese feminine given names Feminine ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. In September the same year, she competed at her first ever World Championship at senior level in Baku,

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, where she placed 8th, assuring herself qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics. In April 2008 the young Swedish wrestler won a silver medal at her second ever European Championship at senior level. That summer, she was defeated in the second round at the Olympics by

Clarissa Chun Clarissa Kyoko Mei Ling Chun (陳美玲) is the Head Coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes Women's wrestling program, formerly, the USA Wrestling assistant National coach and an American Olympic women's freestyle 48 kg (105.5 lbs) wrestler. Chun ...

. In September 2009, Mattsson won the Senior World Championship in 51 kg. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Mattsson competed in the women's lightweight (-55 kg) division. She beat Sündeviin Byambatseren in the first round and Marwa Amri in the second, but lost to Valeria Zholobova in the quarterfinals. In 2014, Mattsson competed on the Swedish version of the television show Fort Boyard. In June 2015, she competed in the inaugural European Games, for Sweden in

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

, more specifically, the women's freestyle 55 kg division. She earned a gold medal. On 9 March 2016 Mattsson won the

2016 European Wrestling Championships The 2016 European Wrestling Championships were held in Riga, Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, l ...

, she won all wrestling matches by fall. She won the bronze medal in 53 kg (featherweight) at the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

. She did this by beating

Odunayo Adekuoroye Odunayo Folasade Adekuoroye (born 10 December 1993) is a Nigerian freestyle wrestler. She competed in the women's freestyle 53 kg event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where she won the gold medal and at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships w ...

in the last 16, then Katarzyna Krawczyk in the quarterfinals. She lost to eventual gold medalist Helen Maroulis in the semifinals. Mattsson was entered into the repechage, where she beat

Zhong Xuechun Zhong Xuechun (born January 18, 1994) is a Chinese freestyle wrestler. She competed in the women's freestyle 53 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, in which she lost the bronze medal match to Sofia Mattsson. In 2015, she competed in the women ...

to win a bronze medal. In March 2021, she qualified at the European Qualification Tournament to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She competed in the women's 53 kg event. She is in the team of Haryana Hammers pro wrestling season2 held in New Delhi.

National results

*2008 – 1st at the Swedish National Championship *2007 – 1st at the Junior Swedish National Championship *2007 – 1st at the Swedish National Championship *2006 – 1st at the Swedish National Championship *2006 – 1st at the Junior Swedish National Championship *2006 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship *2005 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship *2004 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship *2003 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship *2002 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship *2001 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship

International results

Senior

Junior and cadet

*2007 – 1st at the Junior World Championship in

, China *2006 – 1st at the Junior World Championship in Guatemala *2006 – 1st at the Cadet European Championship in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

*2005 – 1st at the Cadet European Championship in

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...

*2004 – 1st at the Cadet European Championship in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

Trivia

*At the European Championship in Sofia, the organisers of the event awarded her with the title "Miss Europe", a prize reserved for the prettiest wrestler at the tournament. However, she refused to accept the prize and commented: "This is not part of the sport. We are here to excel and win at wrestling. There are some people who compete in that other thing too but we don't do that here".

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mattsson, Sofia 1989 births Living people People from Gällivare Municipality Swedish female sport wrestlers Wrestlers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic wrestlers for Sweden European Games gold medalists for Sweden European Games medalists in wrestling Wrestlers at the 2015 European Games World Wrestling Championships medalists Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Olympic medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2019 European Games European Wrestling Championships medalists Wrestlers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Norrbotten County 20th-century Swedish women 21st-century Swedish women European Wrestling Champions World Wrestling Champions