Seiko Yamamoto is a world-class wrestler from Japan. When she was still active in the sport, she won two Wrestling Championships (Asian) and four world titles.
She narrowly missed competing in the Olympics in the year 2004 having lost to Saori Yoshida in the Japan Queens cup. She has since retired and now coaches the United States women’s freestyle wrestling team.
Seiko Yamamoto Biography
Seiko was born in one of the most populated cities in Japan called Kawasaki in Kanagawa on the 22nd of August 1980. She comes from a family of wrestlers. Ikuei Yamamoto (her father) represented Japan in the 1972 Olympics finishing seventh. She is currently 44 years old.
Seiko and her siblings started their training early. As reported, Seiko began at the age of three under the tutelage of their father.
This dedication and training paid off for them as her older sister Miyu ended up winning the MMA and also winning 3 world championships in wrestling in 1991, 1994, and 1995.
Her brother Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto competes in the Mixed Martial Arts with a record of 18-6 for about two decades.
Seiko has been married twice and both men have been athletes. In 2006, she married Hideaki Nagashima a handball player. They divorced in 2014 and she had two sons with him.
Seiko is presently married to Yu Darvish a pitcher with Chicago Cubs. She also has two sons with him.
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Seiko Yakomoto’s Career
Seiko has had an interesting career spanning from 1999 to 2009. She has left no stone untouched while fulfilling her dreams.
She has had to take time off her career twice to have children and still came back on top of her game confirming her place as one of the best wrestlers out of Japan.
Between 1999 to 2003, Seiko was at her best on the wrestling mat. In the 55 kg class, she defeated Erica Sharp from Canada, Lubov Volosova of Russia, and Tetyana Lazarena from Ukraine. After moving up to the 59 kg class, she went ahead to defeat Natalia Ivashko from Russia.
Although women’s freestyle wrestling was added to the wrestling list in 2004, it only had four categories compared to the seven available in the world championships.
To be able to compete in the Olympics, Seiko had to drop to a lower class to qualify. Unfortunately for her, she lost the final qualifier to Saori Yoshida who went ahead to become the first Olympic gold medalist ever in the 55kg class.
Seiko took time off from her career to focus on her family with now ex-husband Nagashima. After two years of giving birth to her son, she came back and won another world championship (Poland Open).
She has since taken a back seat when it comes to wrestling and has tried her hand at teaching and coaching. Seiko now coaches the U.S. Women’s freestyle wrestling junior national team.
Ironically, Helen Maroulis under her tutelage defeated her former rival, Saori Yoshida, with a 4-1 final at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics.
Maroulis became the first American to win gold in women’s freestyle and also the first non-japanese to win a gold medal in women’s wrestling since it was introduced to the Olympics in 2004.
Marriage And Husband
Seiko is presently married to Yuri Darvish. The couple came out openly to declare via Darvish’s Twitter handle that they have discussed and decided to date openly.
He shared a picture of them in an embrace smiling. They have since refrained from posting any personal information on their social media account.
The only indication that they are married was when Seiko changed her name on social media to Seiko Darvish. Although the pair have two sons together now welcoming their first in 2015, they have refrained from sharing their names and pictures on their social media pages.
Yu Darvish who is a pitcher with the L.A. Dodger is one of the best players in the league. He is reportedly 6 years younger than his wife Seiko Darvish but that doesn’t seem to reflect on their relationship as a family.
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Seiko Yamamoto Net worth
Seiko Darvish’s primary source of income has always been wrestling (actively wrestling and coaching).
She is a very private person and not prone to flaunting any of the riches she has accumulated while wrestling on social media. Her net worth is estimated to be between $100k- 1 million.
Seiko is on the list of famous female wrestlers of all time.
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