Photo: Matt Churchill / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
She lost the selection races for Athens and Beijing and retired once. Then she came back, dropped a weight class, remade her body, and at thirty-one stood in her first Olympic Games and won. Born Sakamoto in Hachinohe, Aomori, she came through Shigakkan University and served as a captain in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, so competing was never her only job. In London in 2012 she took the women's 48 kg freestyle gold, and the Medal with Purple Ribbon followed that year. She left the mat immediately afterward, coached, and joined the national women's staff in early 2025. She died that July, aged forty-four. The gold matters to me because it came after the failing, not instead of it.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Hitomi Obara
- Name (Japanese)
- 小原日登美
- Born
- January 4, 1981 (age 45)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Capricorn / Rooster
- Origin
- Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, Japan
- Height
- 2 cm
- Occupation
- amateur wrestler
2. Background
- University
- Shigakkan University
Awards & achievements
- 2012 Medal with Purple Ribbon
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%8F%E5%8E%9F%E6%97%A5%E7%99%BB%E7%BE%8E
Frequently asked questions
When was Hitomi Obara born?
Born January 4, 1981 (age 45).
Where is Hitomi Obara from?
Hitomi Obara is from Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, Japan.
What does Hitomi Obara do?
Hitomi Obara works as amateur wrestler.
How tall is Hitomi Obara?
Hitomi Obara is 2 cm.
Amateur wrestler — see all → · More people from Japan →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-07-27
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.