Kaori Icho
Olympic wrestler
伊調馨 · 伊调馨 · 이초 가오리
- Born
- 13 June 1984, Hachinohe
- Citizenship
- Japan
- Sport
- wrestling, freestyle wrestling
- Occupation
- amateur wrestler
- Height
- 166 cm (5 ft 5 in)
- Weight
- 61 kg (134 lb)
Kaori Icho (Japanese: 伊調 馨, Hepburn: Ichō Kaori; born 13 June 1984) is a Japanese freestyle wrestler. She is a ten-time World Champion and four-time Olympic Champion, winning gold in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Icho was undefeated between 2003 and 2016. On 29 January 2016 at the Golden Grand Prix Ivan Yarygin 2016 Icho lost to Pürevdorjiin Orkhon of Mongolia. This was her first loss after a long domination.
She is the first female in any sport to win individual-event gold at four consecutive Olympics.
On October 20, 2016, she was awarded the People's Honour Award by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for her achievements, the second wrestler to receive the highest award, after Saori Yoshida in 2012. She is the younger sister of Chiharu Icho.
Competitions
| Competition | Year | Result |
|---|---|---|
| wrestling at the 2004 Summer Olympics – women's freestyle 63 kg | ||
| 2002 Asian Games | 2002 | |
| 2006 Asian Games | 2006 | |
| wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – women's freestyle 63 kg | 2008 | |
| wrestling at the 2012 Summer Olympics – women's freestyle 63 kg | 2012 | |
| wrestling at the 2016 Summer Olympics – women's freestyle 58 kg | 2016 |
Awards and honours
- Medal with Purple Ribbon 2004
- Kikuchi Kan Prize 2012
- People's Honour Award 2016
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q233460 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.