# @helen_maroulis on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/C5WantUvXhT
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/13834562-helen-maroulis-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/legacy-do/e36be8b5ced1ba025848fbd577200de99c7875b0d22909a57f7c2e33c43aa6e6.jpg
- **Posted:** 2024-04-04T19:02:08.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Helen Maroulis OLY (@helen_maroulis) — https://gondola.cc/helen_maroulis

## Caption

As a little girl who fell in love with the sport of wrestling, I only ever had male Olympic champions to look up to. Women’s wrestling wasn’t even an Olympic Sport yet. 

I attended summer camps, collected all the signatures I could from the greats (Cael Sanderson, Dan Gable, etc), and studied what I could learn from them. What stood out to me most was that I felt unrelatable. I seemed (and honestly am) way more emotional than them. 

I thought I wouldn’t be able to achieve my dreams if I couldn’t emulate them. Growing up as the only girl on an all boys team, I dressed, talked and acted like the guys. I wanted to fit in and be accepted. But God showed me that I wasn’t going to achieve what I wanted by rejecting parts of myself. I learned to accept myself for who I was and to appreciate what made me..me.

Then my dream came true in 2016 and I became the first female to win a gold medal for the United States. I couldn’t believe it. 

I spent so much time growing up feeling weird, different, or like a head case at times, and I share all of this because I don’t want young athletes to think you have to have it together all of the time. Nobody has it all figured out, and the journey helps us to discover, grow and mold ourselves into the person we want to be. 😊

#wrestling #olympictrials #tbt #olympics #female #athletes #femaleathletes #sports #goldmedal #training #competing #mma #combat #bjj #jiujitsu #fighter #fighters #teamusa #history #motivation

## Stats

- **Views:** 23,026
- **Likes:** 25,295
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 264

## Tags

history, female, bjj, mma, training, jiujitsu, wrestling, fighter, combat, goldmedal, competing, tbt, motivation, sports, teamusa, olympictrials, fighters, athletes, olympics, femaleathletes

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