Irina Rîngaci

Irina Rîngaci (born 23 August 2001) is a Moldovan freestyle wrestler. She won the gold medal in the women's 65 kg event at the 2021 World Wrestling Championships in Oslo, Norway. She is the first female wrestler representing Moldova to win a gold medal at the World Wrestling Championships. Rîngaci is also a five-time medalist, including two gold medals, at the European Wrestling Championships. She represented Moldova at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.

Career

Rîngaci finished in 4th place in the girls' 57kg event at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2019, she won one of the bronze medals in the 62kg event at the World U23 Wrestling Championship held in Budapest, Hungary.

Rîngaci won the silver medal in the women's 65kg event at the 2020 Individual Wrestling World Cup held in Belgrade, Serbia. In March 2021, she competed at the European Qualification Tournament in Budapest, Hungary hoping to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. In April 2021, Rîngaci won the gold medal in her event at the 2021 European Wrestling Championships in Warsaw, Poland. In May 2021, Rîngaci failed to qualify for the Olympics at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament held in Sofia, Bulgaria. Later that month, she won the gold medal in her event at the European U23 Wrestling Championship held in Skopje, North Macedonia. At the 2021 World Junior Wrestling Championships held in Ufa, Russia, she also won the gold medal in her event.

In 2022, Rîngaci won the gold medal in the women's 68kg event at the Dan Kolov & Nikola Petrov Tournament held in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. She also won the gold medal in the 68kg event at the 2022 European U23 Wrestling Championship held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. In that same month, Rîngaci won the gold medal in the 68kg event at the European Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary. She defeated Pauline Lecarpentier of France in her gold medal match. A few months later, she won the silver medal in her event at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series 2022 held in Rome, Italy.

In September 2022, Rîngaci won one of the bronze medals in the 68kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. A month later, she also won one of the bronze medals in her event at the 2022 U23 World Wrestling Championships held in Pontevedra, Spain.

Rîngaci won one of the bronze medals in the women's 68kg event at the 2023 Grand Prix Zagreb Open held in Zagreb, Croatia. She also won one of the bronze medals in her event at the 2023 European U23 Wrestling Championships held in Bucharest, Romania. She won the silver medal in the 65kg event at the 2023 European Wrestling Championships held in Zagreb, Croatia. In June 2023, Rîngaci lost to Russia's Khanum Velieva at Poddubny wrestling league 5 held in Vladikavkaz, Russia.

Rîngaci won one of the bronze medals in the women's 68kg event at the 2023 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. As a result, she earned a quota place for Moldova for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. She defeated Ami Ishii of Japan in her bronze medal match. She defeated Kadriye Aksoy of Turkey in her bronze medal match. She was eliminated in her first match by Pak Sol-gum of North Korea.

Achievements