Japan is home to one of the world's top wrestlers.
Her father is former professional wrestler Animal Hamaguchi. With women's wrestling likely to be introduced as an official event at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, father and daughter are drawing closer to their shared dream of an Olympic gold medal for the young grappler. Top of Her Class Japan can lay claim to some of the world's best female wrestling talent. At the 1999 World Championships, the country's athletes took top honors in three of the six weight classes and finished second to the United States in the team standings. The following year she improved to seventh, and when she moved up a class to 75 kilograms in 1997, she won her first championship at age 19.