Adeline Gray

Adeline Maria Gray (born January 15, 1991) is an American freestyle wrestler who currently competes at 76 kilograms. She is a six-time world champion (2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021) and a two-time Olympian (2016, 2020), having won her first medal, a silver, at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She is the first American woman to win back-to-back wrestling world titles since Tricia Saunders in 1998 and 1999. She is also the first American woman wrestler to win six world championships.

Early life

Gray was born on January 15, 1991, in Denver, Colorado to George and Donna Gray, and has three younger sisters, including fellow wrestler Geneva Gray and began her wrestling career with the help of her father. She graduated from Bear Creek High School in Lakewood, Colorado.[citation needed]

Career

On September 27, 2012, Gray competed in the 2012 Women's World Wrestling Championships in Edmonton, Canada. In her first match against Dzhanan Manolova of Bulgaria, Adeline came out a little slow, then exploded with a great 3 point throw and won the 1st period 3–0. In the second period, she took Manolova down and turned her in a leg lace for another point, then she just defended the rest of the period for a 2–0 win. In the next round, she faced off against Yoshiko Inoue of Japan, the only one to score on Adeline. Inoue scored first in the first period but Adeline came back and scored on a push out to secure the first period win. In the second period, Adeline looked in control with her under hooks, scoring a throw-by and getting her leg lace for a 3–0 win. In the Semi-Finals against Kaur Navjot of India, she looked very confident and showed no fear and dominated Navjot from the start. Adeline secured her second takedown and controlled her legs standing tilts to a stack for the pin.[citation needed]

In the Finals, Gray faced off against the 2012 Jr World Champion, Dorothy Yeats of Canada, only 19 years old and the crowd favorite. Adeline came out very confident and took it to Yeats, throwing her for 3 points and scoring in another takedown to win the 1st period 4–0. In the second period, Adeline stayed in control and secured a takedown late in the period, then put Yeats on her back with her signature arm-bar-wing and pinned her with 4 seconds left for a dominating win.[citation needed]

Gray competed in the 75 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she won her first match against Andrea Olaya of Colombia, but lost her quarterfinal match against Vasilisa Marzaliuk of Belarus.

Gray spent the 2017 season recuperating from injuries, missing the 2017 World Championships.

She returned from her injuries in 2018, winning gold at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships. In 2019, she won gold at the 2019 Pan American Wrestling Championships. Later that year, she won her fifth gold medal at the World Wrestling Championships, becoming the first American wrestler to win five golds at the World Championships. She won silver at the 2020 Pan American Wrestling Championships, winning her first two matches, before withdrawing from her gold medal match against Justina Di Stasio of Canada due to rib fractures.

At the 2020 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials, Gray defeated Kylie Welker by technical superiority twice, qualifying to represent the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. In her opening bout, she won by fall against 2020 African Wrestling Championships gold medalist Zaineb Sghaier. In the quarterfinals, she defeated former world champion and four-time European champion Yasemin Adar by a score of 6–4. In the semifinals, she defeated two-time Asian Wrestling Championships finalist Aiperi Medet Kyzy by a score of 3–2. She was awarded a silver medal after being defeated by former world champion Aline Rotter-Focken by a score of 7–3 in the gold medal match.

In 2021, she won the gold medal in the women's 76kg event at the World Wrestling Championships held in Oslo, Norway. Gray won one of the bronze medals in the women's 76kg event at the 2023 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. She defeated Milaimys Marín of Cuba in her bronze medal match. Gray also earned a quota place for the United States for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.

Gray won a bronze medal in the women's 76kg event at the 2024 Pan American Wrestling Championships held in Acapulco, Mexico.

Endorsements

Gray is the first female wrestler to have her own signature shoe. The ASICS Aggressor 3 L.E. Adeline Gray wrestling shoe, a special edition signature shoe designed by Gray.

Personal life

Outside of competing, and while women's wrestling was created to combat sexism and receives an extraordinary amount of support from the institution of wrestling, Gray has been wrestling the bigger issues of sexism, and promoting equal recognition and participation on the elite levels, including Olympic and collegiate level wrestling.

International matches

External links

• at United World Wrestling
• at the International Wrestling Database
• at USA Wrestling (archived October 5, 2011)
• at Team USA ()
• at Olympics.com
• at Olympedia
• at InterSportStats
• on Instagram