Clarissa Chun

Biography

Chun was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and raised in Kapolei, Hawaii. She is Asian-American. Her mother, Gail Higashi, is Japanese-American from Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi. Her father, Bryan Chun, is Chinese-American from ʻAiea, Oʻahu.

In 2008, Chun taught English to kindergarten students in Japan.

Athletic career

Chun came from a judo background, winning five junior national championships before she tried wrestling in her junior year at Roosevelt High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. She captured the state wrestling title in 1998, the first year girls wrestling was a sanctioned sport.

She attended Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Missouri and earned a communications degree from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Chun was one of the charter members of the Valley program when it began in 1999, and was one of its most decorated. She placed second in the U.S. World Team Trials and medaled in both the U.S. Nationals and Pan American Games during all three of her seasons in Marshall—along with winning several college-level competitions.

Prior to her senior campaign, Chun accepted an invitation to attend the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, eventually earning her degree from the University of Colorado branch there.

After placing second in the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2004, the first year women's wrestling competition was held at the Games, she made the squad four years later.

At the 2008 U.S. Olympic wrestling team trials in June, Clarissa Chun, a diminutive athlete from Hawai'i, gained the admiration of fans and media alike by staging a huge upset of seven-time national champion and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Patricia Miranda. In the process, Chun, who stands 4 feet 11, fulfilled a lifelong dream, becoming the first wrestler from Hawai'i to qualify for a U.S. Olympic team.

Wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's freestyle 48 kg, after winning the first two matches, Chun fell to world champion Chiharu Icho of Japan in the semifinals in an overtime tiebreaker (last to score). She lost in the bronze-medal match to 2004 gold medalist Irini Merleni of Ukraine, and made her mark at the international level by finishing fifth.

Two months after the 2008 Olympic Games, Chun turned in a superb effort to capture a gold medal at the World 2008 Championships in Tokyo, Japan. She relied on her defense in pulling out a gritty 1-0, 1-0 finals win over Kazakhstan's Jyldyz Eshimova-Turtbayeva at the Yoyogi National Stadium.

Chun successful seasons included winning the U.S. Senior National titles, and international titles from the Canada Cup, New York AC Freestyle International, Poland Open, Mongolia Championships, Russia International and Pan American Games. Chun also represented the U.S. at the FILA Women's World Cup in China in 2009 and Japan in 2012.

Clarissa Chun (Colorado Springs, Colo.) became the first women's freestyle wrestler to be nominated to her second Olympic Team after her stellar performance at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Wrestling in Iowa City, Iowa, on April 22, 2012.

Wrestling at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's freestyle 48 kg, Chun qualified for the bronze-medal match by launching World bronze medalist Iwona Matkowska of Poland to her back and recording a dramatic second-period fall in the repechage. Chun knocked off 2004 Olympic gold medalist Iryna Merleni of Ukraine 1-0, 3-0 to capture a bronze medal in women's freestyle wrestling at the 2012 London Olympics.

Olympic bronze medalist Clarissa Chun is now an assistant coach for USA Wrestling's women's national team.

Chun twice wrestled in the bronze medal match at the Olympics, winning her medal in London and taking fifth in Beijing. She was a five-time world team member, winning the world title in 2008.

International award winning wrestler

105.5-pound division at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Wrestling and Judo – Beijing, China.

USA Wrestling's Women's University National Champion

Consistently ranked No. 2 by USA Wrestling

Wrestling USA Magazine's High School Girls All-America Team

CAREER NOTES: (themat.com)