Sofia Magdalena Mattsson (born 11 November 1989) is a Swedish wrestler, who has won a World Championship, four European championships and an Olympic bronze medal.

Sofia Mattsson
Mattsson in 2010
Personal information
Full nameSofia Magdalena Mattsson
NationalitySwedish
Born (1989-11-11) 11 November 1989 (age 35)
Gällivare, Sweden
Home townLjungbyhed
Height164 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight53 kg (117 lb)
Sport
CountrySweden
SportFreestyle wrestling
ClubGällivare SK
Coached byFariborz Besarati
Medal record
Women's freestyle wrestling
Representing  Sweden
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Rio de Janeiro 53 kg
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2009 Herning 51 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Moscow 51 kg
Silver medal – second place 2011 Istanbul 59 kg
Silver medal – second place 2013 Budapest 55 kg
Silver medal – second place 2014 Tashkent 53 kg
Silver medal – second place 2015 Las Vegas 53 kg
European Games
Gold medal – first place 2015 Baku 55 kg
Gold medal – first place 2019 Minsk 53 kg
European Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Sofia 48 kg
Silver medal – second place 2008 Tampere 51 kg
Gold medal – first place 2010 Baku 51 kg
Silver medal – second place 2012 Belgrade 55 kg
Gold medal – first place 2013 Tbilisi 55 kg
Gold medal – first place 2014 Vantaa 55 kg
Gold medal – first place 2016 Riga 53 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2020 Rome 55 kg

Profile

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Born in Gällivare, she is one of the highest-ranking female wrestlers in Europe. She wrestles in the 48 kilo division for the Gällivare SK Wrestling club, coached by Håkan Johansson and Kalle Taivalsaari. Since 2001, she has won eleven Swedish National Championships (six at cadet level, two at junior level and three at senior level).

In 2007 she competed at the European Championship in Sofia, her first ever international championship at senior level. Despite her young age and inexperience, she won her first match; however, in the following match she was defeated by the Russian wrestler Larisa Oorzhak (who went on to win the gold medal). In the repechage, Mattsson defeated her other two opponents and won the bronze medal.

In August 2007, Mattsson became Junior World Champion for the second time after she defeated the Japanese wrestler Fuyuko Mimura in Beijing.

In September the same year, she competed at her first ever World Championship at senior level in Baku, Azerbaijan, where she placed 8th, assuring herself qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

In April 2008 the young Swedish wrestler won a silver medal at her second ever European Championship at senior level. That summer, she was defeated in the second round at the Olympics by Clarissa Chun.[1]

In September 2009, Mattsson won the Senior World Championship in 51 kg.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Mattsson competed in the women's lightweight (-55 kg) division. She beat Sündeviin Byambatseren in the first round and Marwa Amri in the second, but lost to Valeria Zholobova in the quarterfinals.[1]

In 2014, Mattsson competed on the Swedish version of the television show Fort Boyard.[2]

In June 2015, she competed in the inaugural European Games, for Sweden in wrestling, more specifically, the women's freestyle 55 kg division. She earned a gold medal.

On 9 March 2016 Mattsson won the 2016 European Wrestling Championships, she won all wrestling matches by fall. She won the bronze medal in 53 kg (featherweight) at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She did this by beating Odunayo Adekuoroye in the last 16, then Katarzyna Krawczyk in the quarterfinals. She lost to eventual gold medalist Helen Maroulis in the semifinals. Mattsson was entered into the repechage, where she beat Zhong Xuechun to win a bronze medal.[1]

In March 2021, she qualified at the European Qualification Tournament to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.[3][4] She competed in the women's 53 kg event.[5]

She is in the team of Haryana Hammers pro wrestling season2 held in New Delhi.

National results

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  • 2008 – 1st at the Swedish National Championship
  • 2007 – 1st at the Junior Swedish National Championship
  • 2007 – 1st at the Swedish National Championship
  • 2006 – 1st at the Swedish National Championship
  • 2006 – 1st at the Junior Swedish National Championship
  • 2006 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship
  • 2005 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship
  • 2004 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship
  • 2003 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship
  • 2002 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship
  • 2001 – 1st at the Cadet Swedish National Championship

International results

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Senior

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Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
2007 European Championships Sofia, Bulgaria 3rd 48 kg
World Championships Baku, Azerbaijan 8th 48 kg
2008 European Championships Tampere, Finland 2nd 51 kg
Olympic Games Beijing, China 12th 48 kg
2009 European Championships Vilnius, Lithuania 10th 51 kg
World Championships Herning, Denmark 1st 51 kg
2010 European Championships Baku, Azerbaijan 1st 51 kg
World Championships Moscow, Russia 3rd 51 kg
2011 World Championships Istanbul, Turkey 2nd 59 kg
2012 European Championships Belgrade, Serbia 2nd 55 kg
Olympic Games London, Great Britain 7th 55 kg
2013 European Championships Tbilisi, Georgia 1st 55 kg
2014 European Championships Vantaa, Finland 1st 55 kg
2015 2015 World Wrestling Championships Las Vegas, United States 2nd 53 kg
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 3rd 53 kg

Junior and cadet

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  • 2007 – 1st at the Junior World Championship in Beijing, China
  • 2006 – 1st at the Junior World Championship in Guatemala
  • 2006 – 1st at the Cadet European Championship in Turkey
  • 2005 – 1st at the Cadet European Championship in Albania
  • 2004 – 1st at the Cadet European Championship in Bulgaria

Trivia

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  • At the European Championship in Sofia, the organisers of the event awarded her with the title "Miss Europe", a prize reserved for the prettiest wrestler at the tournament. However, she refused to accept the prize and commented: "This is not part of the sport. We are here to excel and win at wrestling. There are some people who compete in that other thing too but we don't do that here".

References

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  1. ^ a b c Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Sofia Mattsson". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  2. ^ "Lutte dans la boue - Sofia Mattson - YouTube". YouTube.
  3. ^ Shefferd, Neil (19 March 2021). "Twelve more wrestlers secure Tokyo 2020 places as women's action takes centre stage at European Olympic qualifier". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  4. ^ "2021 European Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament Results Book" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Wrestling Results Book" (PDF). Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
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