Japanese wrestler Yui Susaki expressed her disappointment of not winning a gold medal for her country despite the fact that she won the bronze in the women's wrestling at the Paris Olympics 2024.
Susaki clinched her second Olympic medal with a bronze in the women's 50kg category. However, the reigning World Champion and the World No.1 was stunned by Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat in the pre-quarters of the event. However, the 25-year-old's hopes to win second successive Olympic medal came back alive when she got another chance in repechage round after Vinesh Phogat reached the final.
United Wrestling World posted Yui Susaki's statement on Instagram, where she thanked her fans for their support throughout her campaign at the Paris Olympics 2024. The Japanese wrestler felt that she betrayed her friends, fans and family for not winning the second successive Olympic medal. She also expressed her gratitude towards the people for their words of encouragement after the loss against Vinesh Phogat.
"I had the honour of winning the bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics! First of all, thank you so much for all your support. It has really helped me out! I wanted to see my family, teammates, and fans who have fought with me for the past three years to win the gold medal, but I couldn’t do it, and I’m so sorry and frustrated that I committed a betrayal." Yui Susaki wrote.
"Despite the loss, encouraging words from all over the world and worlds that they still believe in me and will continue to support me. I wasn’t able to reply, but I read every message, one by one, and I can’t measure how much it touched my heart, how much it saved my heart, and how much it made me want to keep moving forward.
"Thank you so much! As long as there are people who still support me and believe in me, I am strongly willing to keep going hard again to achieve my goal of becoming an Olympic champion." she added.
Yui Susaki was one of the strong favourites to win a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, given her incredible record in international wrestling. The Japanese wrestler didn't lose a single match in her 82 outings until her winning streak came to an end with a shocking defeat at the hands of Vinesh Phogat.
Susaki was the defending Olympic in the women's 50kg wrestling, having won her maiden gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Yui Susaki vows to win gold medal at LA Olympics 2028
After missing out on her chance of winning second Olympic gold medal, Yui Susaki vowed to her country Japan that she will emerge as the Olympic champion once again at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
"I'm glad that I have this bronze medal. I hope that one day I can truly love this bronze medal. I will definitely achieve the Olympic gold medal in Los Angeles four years later, and the Olympics gold medal in Brisbane eight years later." Susaki wrote.
“This frustration can only be cleared up in the Olympics, so I will definitely hit this frustration in four years from now at the Olympics." she concluded.
Apart from her success at the Olympics, Yui Susaki is the four-time World Champion, having clinched the gold medal in 2017, 2018, 2022 and 2023.
