Anastasija Grigorjeva (born 12 May 1990) is a

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

freestyle wrestler Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling i ...

, who won gold at the 2010, 2013 and 2016 European Championships. She has also won two bronze medals at World Championship level and won gold at the European Games. She has competed at three Olympics (

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

and

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Career

Grigorjeva was born in

Daugavpils Daugavpils (; russian: Двинск; ltg, Daugpiļs ; german: Dünaburg, ; pl, Dyneburg; see other names) is a state city in south-eastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. The parts of the ...

. She started to train in wrestling from the year 2003. She originally trained in judo before switching to freestyle wrestling some years later. She studied at the

University of Daugavpils , mottoeng = Through knowledge you win , caption = , latin_name = , established = 1921 , type = Public , endowment = , rector = Ir ...

from 2012 onwards. Grigorjeva had sporting success from a young age: she was the silver medalist at the European Championship for cadets in 2007, the winner of the European Championship for juniors in 2008 and silver medalist of the World and European Championship for juniors. She won European Championships 2010 (Women's freestyle – 55 kg) and won silver in

(Women's freestyle – 59 kg). She qualified for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. At these Games, she exited in the quarterfinals and achieved 9th place. After the 2012 Olympic Games she competed successfully in tournaments, winning 16 consecutive victories, the third longest series of victory between FILA elite wrestlers. In 2013 she won the title of European Champion for a second time, this time in the -63 kg weight category and she was named the sportswoman of the year in Latvia. By March 2014 she was number 1 ranked in the world, and in April she won her third gold medal at the European Championship. That year, Grigorjeva won a bronze medal at the World Championship. In 2014 she was again named Latvian sportswoman of the year. In June 2015, she competed in the inaugural European Games, for

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 s ...

in the women's freestyle -63 kg division. She earned a bronze medal. She qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics, but was again knocked out in the quarterfinals. This time she was entered into the bronze medal repechage, but lost to eventual bronze medalist

Monika Michalik Monika Ewa Michalik (Polish pronunciation: ; born 2 May 1980 in Międzyrzecz) is a freestyle wrestler from Poland. She participated in Women's freestyle 63 kg at 2008 Summer Olympics. In the last 16, she beat Volha Khilko from Belarus. In the q ...

. In 2020, she won the silver medal in the women's 62 kg event at the

2020 Individual Wrestling World Cup The inaugural 2020 Individual World Wrestling Cup was held in Belgrade, Serbia from 12–18 December 2020. It was a replacement event for the 2020 World Championships, which should have taken place in the same location, but since some criteria we ...

held in Belgrade, Serbia. 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 ...

in Tokyo, Japan. She lost her bronze medal match in the women's freestyle 62 kg event.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grigorjeva, Anastasija 1990 births Sportspeople from Daugavpils Latvian female sport wrestlers Living people Wrestlers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic wrestlers of Latvia European Games bronze medalists for Latvia Wrestlers at the 2015 European Games Wrestlers at the 2019 European Games European Games medalists in wrestling European Games gold medalists for Latvia World Wrestling Championships medalists University of Daugavpils alumni European Wrestling Championships medalists 20th-century Latvian women 21st-century Latvian women