Olympic wrestling champion Helen Maroulis made a successful debut at the IBJJF No-Gi World Championships in Las Vegas, capturing gold in her first-ever jiu-jitsu competition. Despite being just one month into her jiu-jitsu journey, Maroulis showcased her natural athleticism and ability to adapt to a new combat sport.
“Overall was just have fun. My friends were doing it, I was like ‘oh this will be fun,’ but I really love jiu-jitsu. I wanted to hit a bunch of jiu-jitsu moves. I’m not like trying to wrestle, but I’m not that great at submissions yet,” Maroulis said in a video after her matches.
Throughout the tournament, Maroulis relied heavily on her coaches’ guidance, demonstrating her willingness to learn and trust the process.
“Whatever I hear them say, I’ll just be like okay I’m just going to do it. In wrestling, it’s like I really trust myself and I trust my instincts out here too, but it’s really nice to have the coaching and to be able to just follow what they’re telling me to do,” she explained.
The transition from wrestling to jiu-jitsu presented new challenges for Maroulis, particularly in understanding submission opportunities.
“Sometimes I don’t know what they have, I don’t know what’s there for them, sometimes I don’t know what’s there for me,” she admitted.
After securing the gold medal, Maroulis reflected on the experience:
“This is really special because it was my literally first ever jiu-jitsu match. It was a beautiful experience and like to have the team, so the whole Unity team just so supportive and like already have friends in this sport and just people from like all across the country were writing to me.”
The victory was particularly meaningful for Maroulis, who had been concerned about letting down those who helped prepare her.
“The one thing I was just really nervous I didn’t want to lose my first match and like I be like my professors and everyone poured so much time into me and I just didn’t want to like have it kind of come to nothing right away,” she shared.
