is a Japanese

freestyle wrestler Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. It is one of two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games, along with Greco-Roman wrestling, Greco-Roman. scholastic wrestling, High school wrestling and men's collegiate wrestling in the U ...

who competes at 65 kilograms. At the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, Otoguro claimed the

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 ...

after beating the likes of defending World Champion Gadzhimurad Rashidov and three-time World Champion

Haji Aliyev Haji Aliyev (; born 21 April 1991), is an Azerbaijani people, Azerbaijani freestyle wrestler. He competed at the 61 kg division in the 2014 European Wrestling Championships and won the gold medal after beating Bekkhan Goygereyev of Russia. ...

. A Cadet World Champion, Otoguro first broke into the senior scene when he went undefeated (16–0) in 2018, claiming the

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

and the national championship at age 19. He then went on to become a two–time Asian Continental Champion (claiming titles in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Career

Early career

Otoguro begun

wrestling 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 di ...

at a young age. During his junior high school years, he studied and trained at the Elite Academy, which is hosted by the

Japanese Olympic Committee The is the National Olympic Committee in Japan for the Olympic Games movement, based in Tokyo, Japan. It is a non-profit organisation that selects teams and raises funds to send Japanese competitors to Olympic events organised by the Internati ...

. His first international appearance came at the 2013 Cadet World Championships, where he claimed a bronze medal. After earning the 2014 Cadet Asian Championship, Otoguro was unable to medal at the 2014 Cadet World Championship, placing eleventh. In 2015, Otoguro became a Cadet World Champion.

Senior level

2018

Otoguro made his senior freestyle debut in April 2018, at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, where he posted wins over 2016 World Champion and four–time NCAA champion Logan Stieber and India's 2017 Junior Asian Champion Sharvan. Otoguro then comfortably claimed the All–Japan Invitational crown with a flawless 6–0 win in the finals against 2016 Olympic Silver medalist Rei Higuchi, qualifying him for the JPN World Team Trials. At the WTT, he faced '2018 Asian Championship runner–up Daichi Takatani, whom he was able to flawlessly drive to a

technical fall In amateur wrestling, a technical fall, or technical superiority, is a victory condition satisfied by outscoring one's opponent by a specified number of points. It is a mercy rule. It is informally abbreviated to "tech" as both a noun and verb. Hi ...

in under two minutes to claim the spot. At the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

, Otoguro made his way to the semifinals with three technical falls, including one over the accomplished veteran Vasyl Shuptar. In the semis, he had a 25–point score match against Russian National champion Akhmed Chakaev, whom he was able to edge 15–10 to make the finals. In the finals, he had another 25–point score match, now against 2018 Asian Games Gold medalist Bajrang Punia, whom he defeated 16–9 to claim the World Championship at 65 kilograms. In doing so, Otaguro became the youngest Japanese wrestler to ever win a world title at the age of 19. He then wasted no time and became Japan's National Champion with wins over the accomplished Rei Higuchi and '18 Asian Games Silver medalist Daichi Takatani (by technical fall), being named the ''Outstanding Wrestler''. After his championship performance through 2018, Otoguro was named one of the ''Breakout Performers of the Year'' and his match with Punia was named the ''Match of the Year'' by

United World Wrestling United World Wrestling (UWW) is the international governing body for the sport of Wrestling; its duties include overseeing wrestling at the World Championships and Olympics. It presides over international competitions for various forms of wrest ...

2019

Otoguro was not able to compete at the Asian Championships nor the

due to a knee injury and was able to practice again a month before the All-Japan Invitational Championships. At the tournament, limited preparation seemed to affect Otoguro, who lost by technical fall to Rei Higuchi in his first career loss as a senior. As the '18 Japan National champion, Otoguro rematched Higuchi at the WTT, and was able to defeat him to earn the spot. At the

, the returning champion got through the first round with a comfortable 6–0 score, but was then soundly defeated by two–time

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

runner-up and eventual winner of the championship Gadzhimurad Rashidov with a score of 1–8. As the Russian kept advancing, Otoguro was able to go through repechage, where he had a 20–point score battle against three–time World and European Champion

, whom he edged 11–9, and a 6–1 victory over Haji Mohamad Ali to make it to the third-place match. In the bronze-medal match, he was defeated by 2018 Russian National runner–up Ismail Musukaev to place fifth. Otoguro then became a two–time Japan National Champion and Olympian on December, with a victory over 2017 U23 World champion

Rinya Nakamura is a Japanese mixed martial artist and former freestyle wrestler who currently competes in the bantamweight division. Competing at 61 kilograms, Nakamura became the 2017 U23 World Champion during his wrestling career, before retiring at age 25 ...

in the finals.

2020

Otoguro came back in big fashion on February, when he claimed the Asian Continental Championship while posting notable and dominant victories over 2019 World Championship runner-up and three–time Asian Champion

Daulet Niyazbekov Daulet Niyazbekov (; born 12 February 1989) is a former Kazakh freestyle wrestler, who was a member of the Olympic Games 2012. He competed in the men's freestyle 55 kg and he lost his bronze medal match to World Champion Yang Kyong-il. Niyazb ...

(10–3) and the accomplished veteran Bajrang Punia in a rematch (10–2). Otoguro was scheduled to represent Japan at the

on August, however, 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 ...

were postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and are now expected to take place on August 1–7, 2021.

2021

After a full year of no competition due to the

pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

, Otoguro competed at the 2021 Asian Championships in April 17–18. To make the finals, he dominated 2019 Junior Asian Continental runner–up Nodir Rakhimov to a

and defeated Morteza Ghiasi. In the finals, he was set up to face rival Bajrang Punia, but Punia pulled out of the match due to an elbow injury, resulting in Otoguro claiming his second gold medal from the Asian continental championships. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, an unseeded Otoguro debuted against former U23 Asian Champion, Tömör-Ochiryn Tulga, and defeated the Mongolian by a 6–3 score; in the quarter-final, Otoguro would then face Ismail Musukaev, who defeated Otoguro at the 2019 World Championships for a bronze medal. Otoguro would exact revenge, and defeated Musukaev by 4–1, thus advancing Otoguro into the semi-final - against Gadzhimurad Rashidov, another former opponent from 2019. After a competitive six minutes, Otoguro, again, exacted revenge and defeated the 2019 World Champion, by 3–2, gaining entry to the final - opposite Azerbaijan's

. Against another one of his former 2019 World Championship opponents, Otoguro defeated the former Olympic Bronze medalist, and three-time World Champion, Aliyev by 5–4 in the final, to earn his first ever Olympic medal, and took first place on the podium.

Personal life

Takuto has a brother named Keisuke Otoguro, who is also a world-class wrestler.

Freestyle record

! colspan="7", Senior freestyle matches , - ! Res. ! Record ! Opponent ! Score ! Date ! Event ! Location , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Loss , , align=left, Toshihiro Hasegawa , style="font-size:88%", FF , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, December 21–24, 2023 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, 2023 Emperor's Cup All-Japan Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4,

Tokyo, Japan 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 ...

, - , Loss , 46–5 , align=left, Kotaro Kiyooka , style="font-size:88%", 6–6 , - , Win , 46–4 , align=left, Kaiji Ogino , style="font-size:88%", 8–2 , - , Win , 45–4 , align=left, Takurō Matsubara , style="font-size:88%", TF 11–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Loss , , align=left, Adil Ospanov , style="font-size:88%", FF , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, September 19, 2023 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, 2023 World Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4,

Belgrade, Serbia Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, - , Loss , 44–4 , align=left, Ismail Musukaev , style="font-size:88%", Fall , - , Win , 44–3 , align=left, Erik Arushanian , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 43–3 , align=left,

Islam Dudaev Islam Lechiyevich Dudaev (; born 15 January 1995) is a Russian-born Albanian wrestler of Chechen origin. He won the gold medal in the men's freestyle 65kg event at the 2024 European Wrestling Championships held in Bucharest, Romania. Career ...

, style="font-size:88%", 9–2 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 42–3 , align=left, Ryoma Anraku , style="font-size:88%", 9–0 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, June 15–18, 2023 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, 2023 Meiji Cup All–Japan Invitational Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=3,

, - , Win , 41–3 , align=left, Kaiki Yamaguchi , style="font-size:88%", 3–2 , - , Win , 40–3 , align=left, Kaiji Ogino , style="font-size:88%", 2–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 39–3 , align=left, Ryoma Anraku , style="font-size:88%", 4–0 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, December 22–25, 2022 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, 2022 Emperor's Cup All-Japan Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=3,

, - , Win , 38–3 , align=left, Kaiji Ogino , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 37–3 , align=left, Kenho Uto , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 36–3 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", 5–4 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, August 6–7, 2021 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4,

, style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4,

, - , Win , 35–3 , align=left, Gadzhimurad Rashidov , style="font-size:88%", 3–2 , - , Win , 34–3 , align=left, Iszmail Muszukajev , style="font-size:88%", 4–1 , - , Win , 33–3 , align=left, Tömör-Ochiryn Tulga , style="font-size:88%", 6–3 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , , align=left, Bajrang Punia , style="font-size:88%", INJ , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, April 17–18, 2021 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, 2021 Asian Continental Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=3, Almaty, Kazakhstan , - , Win , 32–3 , align=left, Morteza Ghiasi , style="font-size:88%", 8–2 , - , Win , 31–3 , align=left, Nodir Rakhimov , style="font-size:88%", TF 13–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 30–3 , align=left, Bajrang Punia , style="font-size:88%", 10–2 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, February 18–23, 2020 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, 2020 Asian Continental Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4,

New Delhi, India New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, - , Win , 29–3 , align=left, Nyamdorj Battulga , style="font-size:88%", TF 11–1 , - , Win , 28–3 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", 10–3 , - , Win , 27–3 , align=left, Mohammed Al Jawad Zuhair Kareem , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 26–3 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, December 19, 2019 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, 2019 Japanese National Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4,

, - , Win , 25–3 , align=left, Ryoma Anraku , style="font-size:88%", 8–1 , - , Win , 24–3 , align=left, Shoya Shimae , style="font-size:88%", 6–1 , - , Win , 23–3 , align=left, Yasuki Tsutsumi , style="font-size:88%", 5–2 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Loss , 22–3 , align=left, Iszmail Muszukajev , style="font-size:88%", 3–5 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5, September 19–20, 2019 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5, 2019 World Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan , - , Win , 22–2 , align=left, Haji Mohamad Ali , style="font-size:88%", 6–1 , - , Win , 21–2 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", 11–9 , - , Loss , 20–2 , align=left, Gadzhimurad Rashidov , style="font-size:88%", 1–8 , - , Win , 20–1 , align=left, Vazgen Tevanyan , style="font-size:88%", 6–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 19–1 , align=left, Rei Higuchi , style="font-size:88%", PP , style="font-size:88%", July 6, 2019 , style="font-size:88%", 2019 Japan Play-offs , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;",

Wakō, Saitama is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 84,161 in 42,434 households and a population density of 7600 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Wakō is located on the southern bo ...

, - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Loss , 18–1 , align=left, Rei Higuchi , style="font-size:88%", TF 5–15 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, June 17, 2019 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, 2019 All–Japan Invitational Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=3,

, - , Win , 18–0 , align=left, Yujiro Ueno , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 17–0 , align=left, Kouki Shimizu , style="font-size:88%", 3–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 16–0 , align=left, Daichi Takatani , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, December 20, 2018 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, 2018 Japanese National Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4,

, - , Win , 15–0 , align=left, Rei Higuchi , style="font-size:88%", 8–3 , - , Win , 14–0 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 13–0 , align=left, Hirotaka Abe , style="font-size:88%", TF 14–3 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 12–0 , align=left, Bajrang Punia , style="font-size:88%", 16–9 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5, October 21–22, 2018 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5, 2018 World Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5,

Budapest, Hungary Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, - , Win , 11–0 , align=left, Akhmed Chakaev , style="font-size:88%", 15–10 , - , Win , 10–0 , align=left, Andrei Prepeliţă , style="font-size:88%", TF 12–2 , - , Win , 9–0 , align=left, Vasyl Shuptar , style="font-size:88%", TF 11–0 , - , Win , 8–0 , align=left, George Bucur , style="font-size:88%", TF 13–2 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 7–0 , align=left, Daichi Takatani , style="font-size:88%", TF 11–0 , style="font-size:88%", July 7, 2018 , style="font-size:88%", 2018 Japan Play-offs , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;",

, - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 6–0 , align=left, Rei Higuchi , style="font-size:88%", 6–0 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, June 15, 2018 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, 2018 Meiji Cup , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4,

, - , Win , 5–0 , align=left, Koki Shimizu , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 4–0 , align=left, Shoya Shimae , style="font-size:88%", TF 11–0 , - , Win , 3–0 , align=left, Ryoma Anraku , style="font-size:88%", 4–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 2–0 , align=left, Sharvan Sharvan , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=2, April 7–8, 2018 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=2,

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

, style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=2,

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City is the largest city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. At the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's List of cities in Iowa, fifth-most populous c ...

, - , Win , 1–0 , align=left, Logan Stieber , style="font-size:88%", 10–5 , -

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Otoguro, Takuto 1998 births Living people Japanese male sport wrestlers World Wrestling Championships medalists Asian Wrestling Championships medalists Olympic wrestlers for Japan Wrestlers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Japan Olympic medalists in wrestling Martial artists from Yamanashi Prefecture