Olympic wrestling champion Obara died at the age of 45.

The 2012 Olympic champion in women's wrestling, eight-time world champion Hitomi Obara of Japan has died at the age of 44. This was announced on July 19 by the press service of the International Federation of Greco-Roman Wrestling (UWW).

"Hitomi Obara, Olympic champion of London 2012 and eight-time world champion, died on Friday (July 18. — Ed.)," the publication on the website says.

She was born in 1981. In the period from 2000 to 2008, the athlete won six world champion titles in the women's weight category up to 51 kg. Back then, she was still performing under the name Sakamoto. At the same time, she lost to athlete Saori Yoshida in an attempt to get into the Japanese national team in the weight category up to 55 kg at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

After the failure, Obara ended her career, but later returned to participate in the 2012 Olympics in London. In 2010 and 2011, she won the title of world champion in the weight category up to 48 kg. In the final of the Olympic Games, the Japanese defeated the representative of Azerbaijan, Maria Stadnik, which earned her Olympic gold.

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