Grace Bullen

Grace Jacob Bullen (born 7 February 1997) is a Norwegian freestyle wrestler. She is an Olympic bronze medallist, World Championships silver and bronze medallist, four-time European champion, and European Games bronze medallist. Bullen won a bronze medal in the women's 62kg event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, and the gold medal at the European Championships in 2017, 2020, 2024, and 2025.

Bullen is also a U23 world champion and three-time European junior champion. She won the gold medal at the World U23 Championships in 2018 and the European Juniors Wrestling Championship in 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Early life

Born in a refugee camp in Eritrea to South Sudanese parents, she moved to Fredrikstad, Norway in 2001 at the age of four. Already at the age of four she took up wrestling in the martial arts club Atlas.

Career

At the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics held in Nanjing, China, Bullen represented Norway and she won the gold medal in the girls' 60kg event. In the final, she defeated Pei Xingru of China. She lost her first match against Emese Barka of Hungary and entered the repechage.

In 2016, Bullen won the silver medal in the women's 58kg at the European Wrestling Championships held in Riga, Latvia. In the final, she lost against Nataliya Synyshyn of Azerbaijan. The following year, she won the gold medal in the same event at the 2017 European Wrestling Championships held in Novi Sad, Serbia. In the final, she defeated Mariana Cherdivara of Moldova.

In 2018, Bullen competed in the 57kg event at the World Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary. She won her first match against Giullia Penalber of Brazil and her next match against Jong In-sun of North Korea.

In 2019, Bullen won one of the bronze medals in the women's 57kg event at the Golden Grand Prix Ivan Yarygin held in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. In the same year, she also competed in the 57kg event at the 2019 European Games held in Minsk, Belarus where she lost her bronze medal match against Anastasia Nichita of Moldova. In 2020, Bullen won the gold medal in the 57kg event at the European Wrestling Championships held in Rome, Italy. In the final, she defeated Alina Akobiia of Ukraine. Her hopes were dashed when she was eliminated in her first match by Bediha Gün of Turkey. In May 2021, she failed to qualify for the Olympics at the World Qualification Tournament held in Sofia, Bulgaria. She won her first two matches but she was then eliminated in the semi-finals by Veronika Chumikova. In October 2021, she was eliminated in her first match in the women's 59kg event at the World Wrestling Championships held in Oslo, Norway.

In 2022, Bullen won the gold medal in her event at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series 2022 held in Rome, Italy. She won the silver medal in the 59kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. She won one of the bronze medals in the 62kg event at the 2023 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. As a result, she earned a quota place for Norway for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.

Bullen won the gold medal in the 62kg event at the 2024 European Wrestling Championships held in Bucharest, Romania. She defeated Luisa Niemesch of Germany in her gold medal match. She defeated Ana Godinez of Canada in her bronze medal match.

Achievements