{{short description|Japanese wrestler (born 1996)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = Rei Higuchi | birth_name = 樋口黎 | fullname = | nationality = {{JPN}} | image = Rei Higuchi Rio2016.jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = Higuchi at the 2016 Summer Olympics | headercolor = Gold | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1996|1|28}} | birth_place = Ibaraki, Osaka | death_date = | death_place = | height = 163 cm | weight = | country = {{JPN}} | sport = Wrestling | weight_class = 61 kg | event = Freestyle | universityteam = | club = Nippon Sport Science University | coach = Kenichi Yumoto<br>Kazuhito Sakae<br>Takahiro Wada | worlds = {{World1}} <small>(2022)</small> {{World2}} <small>(2023)</small> | regionals = {{Asia1}} <small>(2022)</small> | show-medals = yes | olympics = {{silver2}} <small>(2016)</small> {{gold1}} <small>(2024)</small> | medaltemplates = {{Medal|Sport| Men's freestyle wrestling }} {{Medal|Country| {{JPN}} }} {{Medal|Competition | Olympic Games }} {{Medal|Gold| 2024 Paris | 57 kg}} {{Medal|Silver| 2016 Rio de Janeiro | 57 kg}} {{Medal|Competition| World Championships }} {{Medal|Gold| 2022 Belgrade | 61 kg }} {{Medal|Silver| 2023 Belgrade | 57 kg }} {{Medal|Competition| Asian Championships }} {{Medal|Gold| 2022 Ulaanbaatar |61 kg }} {{Medal|Bronze| 2017 New Delhi | 61 kg }} {{Medal|Competition| Grand Prix }} {{Medal|Gold| 2024 Budapest | 57 kg }} {{Medal|Bronze| 2017 Krasnoyarsk | 61 kg }} {{Medal|Gold| 2016 Spala | 57 kg }} {{Medal|Gold| 2016 Skopje | 61 kg }} {{Medal|Bronze| 2015 Ulaanbaatar | 57 kg }} {{Medal|Bronze| 2015 Ulan-Ude | 61 kg }} {{Medal|Competition| World U23 Championships }} {{MedalGold| 2018 Bucharest | 65 kg }} }}
'''Rei Higuchi''' (Japanese: 樋口黎; born 28 January 1996) is a Japanese freestyle wrestler. He won the gold medal in the men's freestyle 57{{nbsp}}kg event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.<ref name="wrestling_results_book_summer_olympics_2024">{{Cite web |title=Wrestling Results Book |url=https://olympics.com/OG2024/pdf/OG2024/WRE/OG2024_WRE_B99_WRE-------------------------------.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240811181048/https://olympics.com/OG2024/pdf/OG2024/WRE/OG2024_WRE_B99_WRE-------------------------------.pdf |archive-date=11 August 2024 |access-date=12 August 2024 |website=2024 Summer Olympics}}</ref> He won a silver medal in the 57 kg division at the 2016 Olympics.<ref name=rio>{{cite web |url=https://www.rio2016.com/en/athlete/rei-higuchi |title=Rei Higuchi |accessdate=19 August 2016 |work=Rio 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826111513/https://www.rio2016.com/en/athlete/rei-higuchi |archive-date=2016-08-26 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=iat>[https://www.iat.uni-leipzig.de/datenbanken/dbfoeldeak/daten.php?spid=9EC6FEE3872540F5938822A7A830288D Higuchi, Rei (JPN)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820105837/https://www.iat.uni-leipzig.de/datenbanken/dbfoeldeak/daten.php?spid=9EC6FEE3872540F5938822A7A830288D# |date=2016-08-20 }}. iat.uni-leipzig.de</ref> He won the gold medal in the 61{{nbsp}}kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia.<ref name="results_book_world_wrestling_championships_2022">{{Cite web |title=2022 World Wrestling Championships Results Book |url=https://cdn.uww.org/s3fs-public/2022-09/final-book-2022-senior-world-championships_compressed.pdf?VersionId=zoTz_Ra8zK5EkVhfrZuDG5THXf4.3ik. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220918183512/https://cdn.uww.org/s3fs-public/2022-09/final-book-2022-senior-world-championships_compressed.pdf?VersionId=zoTz_Ra8zK5EkVhfrZuDG5THXf4.3ik. |archive-date=18 September 2022 |access-date=18 September 2022 |website=United World Wrestling}}</ref>
==Career== Higuchi studies at the Nippon Sport Science University. He fractured his right hand in October 2015, but won the All Japan Tournament in December that year.<ref>[http://results.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=higuchi-rei-1078617/index.html Rei Higuchi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920030951/http://results.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=higuchi-rei-1078617/index.html# |date=2016-09-20 }}. nbcolympics.com</ref>
On 28 January 2017, Higuchi competed at the Golden Grand Prix Ivan Yarygin 2017. In qualification, he was eliminated by Gadzhimurad Rashidov of Russia, but wrestled back to win a bronze medal against Bulat Batoev of Russia.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wrestrus.ru/news/Novosti_turnirov/gran_pri_ivan_yarigin_2017/ahmed_chakaev_dauren_kurugliev_i_alan_hugaev_pobediteli_gran_pri_ivan_jarigin_2017 |title=Ахмед Чакаев, Даурен Куруглиев и Алан Хугаев - победители гран-при "Иван Ярыгин"-2017 - Федерация спортивной борьбы России |access-date=2017-01-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202051908/http://www.wrestrus.ru/news/Novosti_turnirov/gran_pri_ivan_yarigin_2017/ahmed_chakaev_dauren_kurugliev_i_alan_hugaev_pobediteli_gran_pri_ivan_jarigin_2017 |archive-date=2017-02-02 |url-status=live}}</ref> He won a silver medal in the 57-kilogram weight class at the 2023 World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade On 18 September 2023. In the final, he lost to Serbian wrestler Stevan Mićić.<ref>{{cite web |title=WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2023 RESULTS |url=https://uww.org/event/world-championships-49/results}}</ref> In the 2024 Summer Olympics, he won the gold medal against Spencer Lee of the United States.<ref name="wrestling_results_book_summer_olympics_2024"/>
Higuchi was scheduled to face Arsen Harutyunyan at RAF 10 on 13 June 2026, but withdrew.<ref name="e180">{{cite web | last=Hakobyan | first=Vahe | title=Arsen Harutyunyan to face Olympic champion Rei Higuchi at RAF 10 | website=Sportaran | date=May 13, 2026 | url=https://sportaran.com/en/post/arsen-arutyunyan-provedet-shvatku-s-olimpijskim-chempionom-reem-higuchi-na-raf-10/ | access-date=May 21, 2026}}</ref><ref name="h701">{{cite web | title=UPDATE: Arsen Harutyunyan will now face Caleb Smith at RAF10. | website=Instagram | author=Real American Freestyle|date=June 1, 2026 | url=https://www.instagram.com/p/DZEBVa8Rzmd | access-date=June 2, 2026}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons}} *{{UWW|higuchi-rei}} *{{sports links}} *{{Team Japan|olympic/paris/sports/wrestling/team/higuchirei}}
{{Olympic Champions freestyle wrestling bantamweight}} {{World Champions freestyle wrestling featherweight}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higuchi, Rei}} Category:1996 births Category:21st-century Japanese sportsmen Category:Asian Wrestling Championships medalists Category:Freestyle wrestlers Category:Japanese male sport wrestlers Category:Living people Category:Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Category:Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Category:Nippon Sport Science University alumni Category:Olympic gold medalists for Japan Category:Olympic medalists in wrestling Category:Olympic silver medalists for Japan Category:Olympic wrestlers for Japan Category:Real American Freestyle male wrestlers Category:Sportspeople from Ibaraki, Osaka Category:World Wrestling Champions Category:Wrestlers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Category:Wrestlers at the 2024 Summer Olympics
{{Japan-wrestling-bio-stub}} {{Japan-Olympic-medalist-stub}}