4,745 articles
Yelena Novikova Belova
Yelena Dmitriyevna Novikova-Belova (Елена Дмитриевна Новикова-Белова), Soviet foil fencer born 1947, first female fencer with four Olympic golds (1968 individual and team, 1972 and 1976 team), plus 1980 team silver, 1976 bronze, and eight world titles.
Yermakhan Ibraimov
Yermakhan Ibraimov (Ермахан Сағиұлы Ыбырайымов), Kazakh boxer born 1972, light-middleweight Olympic gold at Sydney 2000 and bronze at Atlanta 1996; later national head coach and Almaty Olympic training center administrator.
Yevgeniya Lamonova
Yevgeniya Lamonova (Евгения Алексеевна Ламонова), born 1983 in Kurchatov, is a Russian foil fencer, 2008 Beijing Olympic team gold medalist, 2011 world team champion, later a Kursk Oblast deputy and sports official.
Yevgeny Tishchenko
Yevgeny Tishchenko (Евгений Тищенко), Russian heavyweight boxer born 1991, 2016 Olympic gold medalist at 91 kg; also 2015 world amateur champion; later professional with RCC, suspended after a December 2023 doping test.
Yi Long (一龙)
Yi Long (一龙, Liu Xingjun), Chinese kickboxer and self-styled Shaolin monk from Dezhou, Shandong; Wu Lin Feng star with a 62-13-1 record, multiple world titles, and two famously controversial bouts with Buakaw Banchamek.
Yoel Romero
Yoel Romero (Yoel Romero Palacio) is a Cuban mixed martial artist and former freestyle wrestler, a 1999 world champion who won Olympic silver in 2000 before a UFC middleweight career.
Yogeshwar Dutt (योगेश्वर दत्त)
Yogeshwar Dutt (योगेश्वर दत्त), born 1982 in Bhainswal Kalan, Sonipat, is an Indian freestyle wrestler, four-time Olympian, London 2012 60 kg bronze medallist, 2014 Asian and Commonwealth Games gold winner, later Haryana Police DSP and BJP politician.
Yojiro Uetake
Yojiro Uetake (上武洋次郎, later Obata), born 1943, Japanese freestyle wrestler; won Olympic bantamweight gold at Tokyo 1964 and Mexico City 1968, first Japanese wrestler with two Olympic golds, and went 58-0 with three NCAA titles at Oklahoma State.
Yokozuna (wrestler)
Yokozuna, ring name of Rodney Agatupu Anoa'i (1966-2000), Samoan American WWF wrestler billed as a Japanese sumo grand champion; two-time WWF Champion, 1993 Royal Rumble winner, WrestleMania IX title win over Bret Hart, WWE Hall of Fame 2012.
Yordenis Ugás
Yordenis Ugás (54 Milagros), Cuban boxer born 1986 in Santiago de Cuba; 2005 amateur world and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist; WBA welterweight champion 2020-2022 who beat Manny Pacquiao in 2021.
Yoshi Tatsu (山本尚史)
Yoshi Tatsu (山本尚史), real name Naofumi Yamamoto, is a Japanese professional wrestler who competed in WWE from 2008 to 2014 and now leads TEAM 2000X in Pro Wrestling NOAH.
Yoshihiro Akiyama
Yoshihiro Akiyama, also known as Choo Sung-hoon (추성훈), is a Korean-Japanese retired judoka and mixed martial artist who won judo gold at the 2002 Asian Games.
Yoshihiro Tajiri
Yoshihiro Tajiri (田尻 義博), ring name TAJIRI, "The Japanese Buzzsaw", Japanese wrestler born 1970 in Tamana, Kumamoto; ECW 1998–2001, WWE 2001–2005 and 2016–17, three-time Cruiserweight Champion, founder of Smash and Wrestling New Classic.
Yoshihiro Takayama (高山 善廣)
Yoshihiro Takayama (高山 善廣), born in Sumida, Tokyo, is a former Japanese pro wrestler and mixed martial arts competitor who won the three heavyweight titles in puroresu.
Yoshiyuki Matsuoka
Yoshiyuki Matsuoka (松岡義之), born 1957 in Hyogo, Japanese judoka; Olympic gold, men's -65 kg, Los Angeles 1984; world silver 1983 and bronze 1985; later General Manager of the Komatsu women's judo team.
Yrjo Saarela
Yrjö Saarela (1882 or 1884-1951), Finnish Greco-Roman wrestler; Olympic heavyweight gold 1912 Stockholm, light-heavyweight silver 1908 London, world champion 1911 Helsinki; later farmer and coach.
Yu In Tak
Yu In-Tak (유인탁, also romanized You In-Tak), born 1958, is a South Korean freestyle wrestler who won gold in the men's 68 kg lightweight freestyle event at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and carried South Korea's flag at the 1988 Seoul Opening Ceremony.
Yuan Hua
Yuan Hua (袁华), Chinese judoka born 1974 in Liaoyang, Liaoning; won women's +78 kg gold at Sydney 2000 Olympics and 2001 World Championships, plus 1998 Asian Games and Universiade titles.
Yudai Nagano
Yudai Nagano (永野 雄大), born 1998 in Ibaraki, Japan, is a Japanese foil fencer, son of 1992 Olympian Yoshihide Nagano; 4th in team foil at Tokyo 2020 and Olympic gold medalist in men's team foil at Paris 2024.
Yui Susaki
Yui Susaki (須﨑優衣), born 1999, Japanese women's freestyle 50 kg wrestler; Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold with 41-0 aggregate, Paris 2024 bronze, first wrestler to win all world age-group titles plus Olympic gold.
Yuji Takada
Yuji Takada (高田裕司, born 1954) is a Japanese freestyle wrestler, 1976 Olympic flyweight gold medalist and 1984 bronze medalist, four-time world champion, later coach and FILA Hall of Fame inductee; distinct from the 1984-born Deaflympics athlete of the same name.
Yujiro Takahashi (高橋裕二郎)
Yujiro Takahashi (高橋裕二郎), born 1981 in Niigata, is a Japanese NJPW heavyweight wrestler, former No Limit tag partner of Tetsuya Naito, first Japanese Bullet Club member, and current House of Torture member known as the Tokyo Pimps.
Yuka Kagami
Yuka Kagami (鏡 優翔), Japanese freestyle wrestler born 2001 in Yamagata; Paris 2024 Olympic champion at women's 76 kg, Japan's first in the heaviest class, plus 2023 world title and 2026 Asian Games gold.
Yukako Kawai
Yukako Kawai (川井友香子), Japanese women's freestyle wrestler, born 1997 in Ishikawa; won 62kg gold at Tokyo 2020 beating Tynybekova 4-3; sister of Olympic champion Risako Kawai; 2018 world silver, 2019 world bronze.
Yuko Emoto
Yuko Emoto (惠本裕子), born 1972 in Asahikawa, is a Japanese judoka who won gold in women's half-middleweight −61 kg at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, took 1994 Asian Games silver, and later authored the manga JJM: Women's Judo Club Story.
Yuliya Bakastova
Yuliia Bakastova (Юлія Бакастова), Ukrainian left-handed sabre fencer born 1996; Olympic gold medalist in women's team sabre at Paris 2024 with Kharlan, Komashchuk, and Kravatska; European team silver 2018 and 2024, bronze 2022.
Yuriorkis Gamboa
Yuriorkis Gamboa (El Ciclón de Guantánamo), Cuban boxer born 1981, 2004 Olympic flyweight gold medalist, defected 2006, unified WBA and IBF featherweight titles 2010, later lost to Crawford, Davis, Haney, and Cruz.
Yury Melnichenko
Yury Melnichenko (Юрий Мельниченко), born 1972, is a Kazakh Greco-Roman wrestler who won the 1996 Atlanta gold and later served as a federation vice-president and coach.
Yury Rudov
Yury Rudov (Юрий Васильевич Рудов, 1931–2013), Soviet foil fencer with Dynamo Moskva; Olympic team foil gold at Rome 1960, world team titles 1959, 1961, 1963, and 1958 silver; later a fencing coach.
Yury Sharov
Yury Sharov (Юрий Дмитриевич Шаров, 1939–2021), Soviet foil fencer from Saratov; Olympic team gold 1964, silver 1968, four world team titles, later coach and 1980 Olympic referee.