Risako Kawai said Friday the weight of the Olympic gold medal she claimed for Japan in the women's 57-kilogram wrestling is a physical representation of what she went through over the five years since winning her first title at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
But the 26-year-old said she was able to overcome the challenges along the way and top the podium on Thursday thanks to the support provided by her younger sister and fellow wrestler Yukako, who won the 62-kg title at Makuhari Messe Hall.
"When I received my medal at the victory ceremony, it reminded me of the past five years," Risako told a press conference. "I thought about how I was able to finally accomplish this with my sister at the Tokyo Olympics."
A day after her sister won gold in her weight division, Risako defeated Belarus's Iryna Kurachkina 5-0 in her final. She and the 23-year-old Yukako became the first Japanese sisters to win summer Olympic gold medals.
After the Tokyo Olympics were postponed for one year in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, Risako said she felt the pressure from the uncertainty of the situation, not knowing whether the games would actually be held and whether she was up for another year of training.
"If I had been by myself, I think I would have really been upset. But Yukako was there to cheer me up and watching her work hard made me realize that I need to do that too," she said.
"I think I came this far because of Yukako."
After winning the women's 63-kg class in Rio, Risako decided to move down to the 57-kg division so that her sister could compete in the 62-kg category at the Tokyo Games. And so was born the sisters' dream of winning gold together on home soil.
But that decision meant Risako had to beat out four-time Olympic champion Kaori Icho, for many years considered one of the world's two best female wrestlers along with three-time Olympic champion Saori Yoshida, who is now retired.
She persevered and defeated Icho in a playoff for a spot for the 2019 world championships in July that year, and qualified for the Tokyo Games by winning gold there.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Risako became the third Japanese female wrestler to win back-to-back Olympic titles, following Icho and Yoshida, who won their first golds at the 2004 Athens Games.
Despite her feat, she believes she has a long way to go before she can be compared to the two wrestling legends.
"I will never be able to pass Saori (Yoshida) and Kaori (Icho) no matter how hard I try to catch up," she said.
"I just need to compete like myself. But I think it's my privilege that I was able to wrestle at the same time as them."
Risako said she hopes her experiences on the world wrestling stage will motivate children who aspire to become wrestlers.
"As watching Saori Yoshida and Kaori Icho compete at the 2004 Olympics in Athens inspired me (to be on the Olympic stage), I hope there are children who were inspired by my performance here as well."
Related coverage:
Olympics: Japan's Risako Kawai wins women's wrestling 57 kg gold at Tokyo Games
Olympics: Yukako Kawai wins women's 62-kg wrestling gold for Japan
