Sofia Magdalena Mattsson (born 11 November 1989) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...

, who has won a World Championship, four European championships and an Olympic bronze medal.

Profile

Born in

Gällivare Gällivare (; fi, Jällivaara; se, Jiellevárri or ; smj, Jiellevárre or ; fit, Jellivaara) is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,449 inhabitants in 2010. The town wa ...

, she is one of the highest-ranking female wrestlers in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. She wrestles in the 48 kilo division for the Gällivare SK Wrestling club, coached by Håkan Johansson and Kalle Taivalsaari. Since 2001, she has won eleven Swedish National Championships (six at cadet level, two at junior level and three at senior level). In 2007 she competed at the European Championship in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

, her first ever international championship at senior level. Despite her young age and inexperience, she won her first match; however, in the following match she was defeated by the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n wrestler Larisa Oorzhak (who went on to win the gold medal). In the repechage, Mattsson defeated her other two opponents and won the bronze medal. In August 2007, Mattsson became Junior World Champion for the second time after she defeated the Japanese wrestler Fuyuko Mimura in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. In September the same year, she competed at her first ever World Championship at senior level in Baku,

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

, where she placed 8th, assuring herself qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics. In April 2008 the young Swedish wrestler won a silver medal at her second ever European Championship at senior level. That summer, she was defeated in the second round at the Olympics by

Clarissa Chun Clarissa Kyoko Mei Ling Chun (陳美玲) is the Head Coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes Women's wrestling program, formerly, the USA Wrestling assistant National coach and an American Olympic women's freestyle 48 kg (105.5 lbs) wrestler. Chun ...

. In September 2009, Mattsson won the Senior World Championship in 51 kg. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Mattsson competed in the women's lightweight (-55 kg) division. She beat Sündeviin Byambatseren in the first round and Marwa Amri in the second, but lost to Valeria Zholobova in the quarterfinals. In 2014, Mattsson competed on the Swedish version of the television show Fort Boyard. In June 2015, she competed in the inaugural European Games, for Sweden in

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

, more specifically, the women's freestyle 55 kg division. She earned a gold medal. On 9 March 2016 Mattsson won the 2016 European Wrestling Championships, she won all wrestling matches by

fall Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southe ...

. She won the bronze medal in 53 kg (featherweight) at the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

. She did this by beating Odunayo Adekuoroye in the last 16, then Katarzyna Krawczyk in the quarterfinals. She lost to eventual gold medalist

Helen Maroulis Helen Louise Maroulis ( el, Ελένη Μαρούλη; born September 19, 1991) is an American freestyle wrestler who competes in the women's 55-kg 53-kg and 57-kg categories. She was a gold medalist at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in ...

in the semifinals. Mattsson was entered into the repechage, where she beat Zhong Xuechun to win a bronze medal. In March 2021, she qualified at the European Qualification Tournament to compete at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

in Tokyo, Japan. She competed in the women's 53 kg event. She is in the team of Haryana Hammers pro wrestling season2 held in New Delhi.

National results

*2008 – 1st at the Swedish National Championship *2007 – 1st at the Junior Swedish National Championship *2007 – 1st at the Swedish National Championship *2006 – 1st at the Swedish National Championship *2006 – 1st at the Junior Swedish National Championship *2006 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship *2005 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship *2004 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship *2003 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship *2002 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship *2001 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship

International results

Senior

Junior and cadet

*2007 – 1st at the Junior World Championship in

, China *2006 – 1st at the Junior World Championship in Guatemala *2006 – 1st at the Cadet European Championship in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

*2005 – 1st at the Cadet European Championship in

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

*2004 – 1st at the Cadet European Championship in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

Trivia

*At the European Championship in Sofia, the organisers of the event awarded her with the title "Miss Europe", a prize reserved for the prettiest wrestler at the tournament. However, she refused to accept the prize and commented: "This is not part of the sport. We are here to excel and win at wrestling. There are some people who compete in that other thing too but we don't do that here".

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mattsson, Sofia 1989 births Living people People from Gällivare Municipality Swedish female sport wrestlers Wrestlers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic wrestlers for Sweden European Games gold medalists for Sweden European Games medalists in wrestling Wrestlers at the 2015 European Games World Wrestling Championships medalists Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Olympic medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2019 European Games European Wrestling Championships medalists Wrestlers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Norrbotten County 20th-century Swedish women 21st-century Swedish women European Wrestling Champions World Wrestling Champions