Clarissa Chun

Clarissa Kyoko Mei Ling Chun (陳美玲) is the head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes Women's wrestling program, formerly, the USA Wrestling assistant National coach and an American Olympic women's freestyle 48 kg (105.5 lbs) wrestler.

Chun was the first female wrestler from Hawaii to win a medal at the Olympics.

She captured the state wrestling title in 1998, the first year girls wrestling was a sanctioned sport.

Chun attended Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Missouri and earned a communications degree from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Chun was one of the charter members of the Valley program when it began in 1999, and was one of its most decorated.

She placed second in the U.S. World Team Trials and medaled in both the U.S. Nationals and Pan American Games during all three of her seasons in Marshall—along with winning several college-level competitions.

Prior to her senior campaign, Chun accepted an invitation to attend the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, eventually earning her degree from the University of Colorado branch there.

After placing second in the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2004, the first year women's wrestling competition was held at the Games, she made the squad four years later.

She lost in the bronze-medal match to 2004 gold medalist Irini Merleni of Ukraine, and made her mark at the international level by finishing fifth.

Chun knocked off 2004 Olympic gold medalist Iryna Merleni of Ukraine 1–0, 3–0 to capture a bronze medal in women's freestyle wrestling at the 2012 London Olympics.

Chun twice wrestled in the bronze medal match at the Olympics, winning her medal in London and taking fifth in Beijing.

In 2008, Chun taught English to kindergarten students in Japan.

Chun had a guest starring role in Hawaii Five- 0 in Season three episode twenty as a contestant.

On November 19, 2021, Chun was announced as the first ever Head Coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes Women's Wrestling Program.

The program marks the first ever from a NCAA Power 5 Conference and will begin competition in the fall of 2023.

Chun came from a judo background, winning five junior national championships before she tried wrestling in her junior year at Roosevelt High School in Honolulu, Hawaii.

At the 2008 U.S. Olympic wrestling team trials in June, Chun gained the admiration of fans and media alike by staging a huge upset of seven-time national champion and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Patricia Miranda.

In the process, Chun, who stands 4 ft, fulfilled a lifelong dream, becoming the first wrestler from Hawai'i to qualify for a U.S. Olympic team.

Wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's freestyle 48 kg, after winning the first two matches, Chun fell to world champion Chiharu Icho of Japan in the semifinals in an overtime tiebreaker (last to score).

Two months after the 2008 Olympic Games, Chun turned in a superb effort to capture a gold medal at the World 2008 Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

She relied on her defense in pulling out a gritty 1–0, 1–0 finals win over Kazakhstan's Jyldyz Eshimova-Turtbayeva at the Yoyogi National Stadium.

Chun's successful seasons included winning the U.S. Senior National titles, and international titles from the Canada Cup, New York AC Freestyle International, Poland Open, Mongolia Championships, Russia International and Pan American Games.

She was a five-time world team member, winning the world title in 2008.

Chun is currently an assistant coach for USA Wrestling's women's national team.

Chun also represented the U.S. at the FILA Women's World Cup in China in 2009 and Japan in 2012.

Chun became the first women's freestyle wrestler to be nominated to her second Olympic Team after her stellar performance at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Wrestling in Iowa City, Iowa, on April 22, 2012.

Wrestling at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's freestyle 48 kg, Chun qualified for the bronze-medal match by launching World bronze medalist Iwona Matkowska of Poland to her back and recording a dramatic second-period fall in the repechage.

She was inducted into the 2018 Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame and 2022 National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.

In 2022, it marked the first time that more than one female was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member, with Chun and Sara McMann becoming the third and fourth female Distinguished Members, joining fellow female wrestlers Tricia Saunders (2006) and Kristie Davis (2018).

Chun was also among the inductees of the 2023 class of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) National High School Hall of Fame.

On November 18, 2021, Chun was announced as the first head coach of the University of Iowa’s women's wrestling program.

Chun was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and raised in Kapolei, Hawaii.

She is Asian-American.

Her mother, Gail Higashi, is Japanese-American from Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi.

Her father, Bryan Chun, is Chinese-American from ʻAiea, Oʻahu.

On May 15, 2018, she was inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame.

USA Wrestling National Women's Freestyle Assistant Coach Clarissa Chun has been invited as a United World Wrestling Ambassador to be a part of a program, reaching out to Syrian Refugees in Azraq, Jordan, on July 19.

The initiative, called Inspire Together for Peace, is a joint effort with UWW and World Taekwondo/Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation.

WT/THF already has an existing presence there with a facility and program to help get other sports established.

The goal of this initiative is to introduce these combat sports to the community.