Helen Maroulis

Helen Louise Maroulis ( ; born September 19, 1991) is an American freestyle wrestler who competes in the women's 55-kg, 53-kg, and 57-kg categories. She has won four gold medals at the World Championships, the first in 2015 and most recently in 2025. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she became the first-ever American to win a gold medal in women's freestyle wrestling at the Olympic Games.

She currently competes in the Bantamweight division of Real American Freestyle (RAF), where she is the current RAF Women's Bantamweight Champion.

The Anthony-Maroulis Trophy is named after Maroulis and Victoria Anthony, and is awarded annually to the top performer in women's college wrestling.

Background Maroulis was born in Rockville, Maryland, Her father is Greek. She attended Magruder High School for three years, where as a freshman she became the first female wrestler to place at the Maryland state wrestling championships. Maroulis was also named Most Outstanding Wrestler of a tournament, by pinning a senior boy who had won the year before, and finished high school with 99 career victories.

Career

College

She then moved to Marquette Senior High School in Marquette, Michigan and then went to join Missouri Baptist University women's wrestling team in Saint Louis, Missouri, before ultimately transferring to compete for Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. At the age-group level, Maroulis was a three-time Junior World medalist (bronze in 2008 & 2010, silver in 2011). This was the first Olympic gold medal for the United States in a women's wrestling event.

World Championship 2017 Maroulis won her third consecutive gold medal at the world championships or Olympics, defeating Olympic bronze medalist Marwa Amri of Tunisia in the final of the 58-kilogram/128-pound weight class with an 11-0 technical fall.

Pro Wrestling League On January 16, 2018, Pooja Dhanda defeated Maroulis in the Pro Wrestling League.

World Championship 2018 Maroulis was defeated in the first round by fall by Azerbaijan's Alyona Kolesnik, a shocking upset for the defending world and Olympic champion. The defeat was attributed to a serious head injury (a concussion from a tournament in January 2018). As Maroulis stated in post-match interview, "I'm so used to telling someone, hey, don't touch my head." The injury caused Maroulis to delay her world team qualifier match, and significantly limited her live sparring prior to the event. It was reported she was so limited by the injury that she only returned to live practice about 10 days before her rescheduled qualifying series.

Tokyo Summer Olympics 2020 Maroulis won a bronze medal by defeating Mongolia's Khongorzul Boldsaikhan after controversially losing to Risako Kawai of Japan in the 57 kg semifinals. With the bronze medal, Maroulis became the first female wrestler in U.S. history to win two Olympic medals.

Ivan Yariguin Grand Prix 2022 Maroulis won a gold medal in the 57 kg final by forfeit as her opponent Olga Khoroshavtseva of Russia withdrew.

Pan American Championships 2024 In 2024, she won the gold medal in the women's 57kg event at the Pan American Wrestling Championships held in Acapulco, Mexico. She defeated Giullia Penalber of Brazil in her gold medal match. She qualified for the Olympics at the 2024 United States Olympic trials held in State College, Pennsylvania.

On August 9, 2024, she won the bronze medal in the 57 kg women's freestyle wrestling event with a victory over Hannah Taylor of Canada.

IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2024 Maroulis made her Brazilian jiu-jitsu debut at the IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2024, where she competed in the lightweight blue belt division. She won all five matches and a took a gold medal in her weight class.

Real American Freestyle

She signed with Real American Freestyle (RAF), and defeated Samantha Stewart at RAF 02 on October 25, 2025 to become the inaugural RAF Women's Flyweight Champion. Maroulis successfully defended the renamed title, now called the RAF Women's Bantamweight Championship, against Alexis Janiak at RAF 08 on April 18, 2026. She will defend the RAF Women's Bantamweight Championship against Anhelina Lysak at RAF Georgia on July 11, 2026.

Match results

Res. Record Opponent Score Date Event Location

Win 35-8

Loss 34-8

Win 34-7

Win 33-7

Win 32-7

Win 31-7

Win 30-7

Win 29-7

Loss 28-7

Win 28-6

Win 27-6

Loss 26-7

Win 26-6

Win 25-6

Win 24-6

Win 23-6

Win 22-6

Win 21-6

Win 20-6

Win 19-6

Win 18-6

Win 17-6

Win 16-6

Win 15-6

Win 14-6

Win 13-6

Win 12-6

Loss 11-6

Win 11-5

Win 10-5

Loss 9-5

Loss 9-4

Win 9-3

Win 8-3

Loss 7-3

Win 7-2

Win 6-2

Win 5-2

Loss 4-2

Win 4-1

Win 3-1

Loss 2-1

Win 2–0

Win 1–0

Personal life

Maroulis converted to Christianity while in college, and found comfort in religion after failing to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Her grandparents emigrated to the United States from the Greek island Kalamos in the 1960s. Maroulis visited her father's island a few weeks after her victory at Rio, and was given an award by the local community.

USA Wrestling's Women's College Wrestler of the Year award was renamed the Anthony-Maroulis Trophy to honor Maroulis and Victoria Anthony in 2026.