Akari Fujinami loses for first time since 2017. Now she vows to win Olympic gold

Akari Fujinami has vowed to bounce back from the first defeat of her career by winning Olympic gold at the Los Angeles 2028 Games. The Japanese wrestling star saw her astonishing 155-match winning streak come to an end at the Asian Games in Nagoya, but the shock defeat has only strengthened her resolve for the next Olympic cycle.

Fujinami suffered her first international and overall loss since 2017 when DPR Korea’s world silver medallist Son Il Sim pinned her in the women’s 57kg semi-final. Son raced into a 10-0 lead before securing the fall, bringing an extraordinary unbeaten run to an end. Fujinami, however, recovered to win the bronze medal.

The defeat left Fujinami deeply frustrated, but also determined to turn the painful experience into motivation. “I feel deeply frustrated. Even though I lost, people supported me, which made me feel both frustrated and determined,” Fujinami said.

“I have made up my mind that at the Los Angeles 2028 (Olympic Games), together with everyone who supported me, I will definitely win a gold medal."‘I WAS TERRIFIED’

The loss was particularly difficult because Fujinami had spent years establishing herself as one of the most dominant wrestlers in the world. She won Olympic gold in the 53kg category at Paris 2024, while also claiming two World Championship titles, in 2021 and 2023, and gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, all in the 53kg class.

At the Asian Games, Fujinami competed in the 57kg category after moving up from 53kg. She carried her extraordinary winning record into the new weight class, but Son produced a stunning upset in the semi-final and ended a run that had lasted for the last nine years.

The defeat also left Fujinami facing emotions she had rarely, if ever, experienced on the wrestling mat. She admitted that returning to competition for the bronze-medal bout was an enormous mental challenge.

“It was an indescribable emotion that I had never experienced before. I will never forget that feeling, and I don’t want to. I was extremely terrified to step onto the mat again after the semifinal,” Fujinami said.

But she found the strength to return to the mat, with her father and supporters helping her through the difficult moment.

“But my father and so many people were by my side, giving me words of encouragement and sending messages. I read all of them."

Fujinami went on to win the bronze medal, ensuring that her Asian Games campaign did not end with the shock defeat. More importantly, the experience gave the 22-year-old a new perspective after years of almost uninterrupted success.

Her unbeaten run may be over, but Fujinami now has something she has rarely had in her career — a painful defeat to learn from. With Los Angeles 2028 firmly in her sights, she will look to turn the most difficult night of her wrestling career into the foundation for another Olympic triumph.- Ends