Yu Darvish's wife Seiko pens heartfelt tribute after Olympic champion Hitomi Obara dies at 44

San Diego Padres star Yu Darvish's wife, Seiko Yamamoto, received some heartbreaking news as her wrestling contemporary, Hitomi Obara, passed away on July 18. She had won the gold medal for Japan at the 2012 London Olympics in freestyle wrestling in the 48kg category.

Obara was born Hitomi Sakamoto on January 4, 1981, in Hachinohe, a wrestling-centric city in northern Japan. She married in 2011 and mothered two children, who are currently studying at elementary school.

On Saturday, Darvish's wife shared a picture of herself and Obara with the Japanese women's wrestling team from the 2001 World Wrestling Championships.

"RIP Hitomi," Seiko wrote in the captions. "I'll never forget running through this era with you. And your wrestling called cyborgs. No matter how many times you broke down, I was truly proud of you winning gold medal in the Olympics. Rest in peace Love to all my family." (translated to English from Japanese)

Yu Darvish's wife Seiko's Instagram story

Japan won two medals, both golds, at the 2001 World Wrestling Championships held in Sofia, Bulgaria. One medal was won at the 56kg weight class in freestyle by Seiko, while Obara won the other one at 51kg.

Obara was a Captain in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. Following retirement, she joined the school’s women’s wrestling coaching staff, mentoring athletes like Haruna Murayama Okuno, Himeka Tokuhara and Masako Furuichi.

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Seiko Yamamoto and Hitomi Obara were superstars of Japanese wrestling

Seiko Yamamoto comes from a martial arts background. Her father, Ikuei, represented Japan at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Her older sister, Norifumi, was a three-time world champion, while her late brother was a kickboxer and mixed martial artist as well.

Japan had several female wrestling superstars born in the 1980s who dominated from the late 1990s to the mid-2020s. Seiko, Hitomi Obara, Saori Yoshida and Kaori Icho were part of that golden generation of dominant Japanese wrestlers.

Seiko was a pioneer, winning four gold medals at the World Wrestling Championships. Unfortunately, several injuries and Saori Yoshida's presence limited her chances of achieving greater success.

Yoshida is the most decorated freestyle wrestler, having won gold medals in three Olympics and thirteen World Wrestling Championships. She also won a Silver medal in the Olympics.

Obara was an eight-time World Champion before winning the Gold medal in the 2012 Olympics. She had missed the 2004 and 2008 editions and had retired before returning to win Gold in her only appearance in the Olympics.

Kaori Icho is the most decorated among the four in the Olympics, having won four straight gold medals from 2004 to 2016. Notably, she also won 10 gold medals at the World Wrestling Championships.

Edited by Satagni Sikder