Marwa Amri


Marwa Amri is a Tunisian freestyle wrestler. She was born in Tunis. She represented Tunisia in the women's lightweight freestyle competition at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. She is the first woman from Africa win an Olympic medal in wrestling.

Career

At the 2008 Olympics in the 55 kg category, she lost in the first round to Jackeline Rentería.
At the 2012 Olympics in the 55 kg category, she defeated Um Ji-Eun in the qualifications and was eliminated by Sofia Mattsson in the 1/8 finals.
She improved yet again at the 2016 Olympics, in the 58 kg category. Although she lost to Kaori Icho in the first round, she was entered into the repechage because Icho reached the final. In the repechage she beat Elif Jale Yeşilırmak, and then Yuliya Ratkevich in her bronze medal match.
In 2020 she won the gold medal in the women's freestyle 62 kg event at the 2020 African Wrestling Championships.

Personal life

She is the oldest of four children. Her father died when she was nine. She took up wrestling when she was 11. Although one of her younger sisters also took up the sport, she quickly quit.
Despite a lack of funding, facilities and female training partners, Amri persevered, attending World and African championships through government funding.
She has a degree in Physical Education.