Olympic wrestling champion Helen Maroulis won a gold medal in her first Brazilian jiu-jitsu competition at the IBJJF World Championships, expressing her newfound love for the sport and plans to continue competing.
Olympic wrestling champ Helen Maroulis just snagged another gold medal, this time in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Maroulis, the first American woman to win Olympic gold in wrestling, made her grappling debut at the IBJJF World Championships. And guess what? She nailed it! In only her second match at the blue belt level, after just six weeks of training, she pulled off a mounted guillotine choke for the win. Impressive, right?
She won five matches straight to grab gold. Funny thing is, she got into jiu-jitsu on a whim while visiting New York for a USA wrestling event. Talk about taking a leap!
“This experience was amazing,” Maroulis shared with IBJJF post-victory. “I fell in love with jiu-jitsu pretty instantly. Sure, there are similarities to wrestling, but I adore the differences too. Honestly, I was super nervous since I’d never done a match before and had no clue what to expect.”
“Unity’s training camp was fantastic,” she added. “Huge thanks to all the professors, coaches, and teammates who helped me out. Competing is my jam; today was just plain fun!”
Maroulis is already a legend in U.S. women’s wrestling with a gold from 2016 and bronze medals from both 2020 and 2024.
While she’s not hanging up her wrestling shoes yet, it seems like Maroulis is keen on more Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions after tasting victory again.
“I love competing, but wrestling is brutal on the body,” Maroulis admitted. “With jiu-jitsu, you see older folks just training casually—it’s therapeutic! It’s an outlet and so healthy for mind, body, soul. Having that with jiu-jitsu feels really nice.”