Ana Godinez Gonzalez of Burnaby, British Columbia won the gold medal on Saturday in the women’s 62 kilogram weight class at the Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Memorial event in Budapest, Hungary. The gold medal is significant because it comes six weeks prior to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Godinez Gonzalez got a first round bye. She then beat Lais Nunes of Brazil 6-2 in the quarterfinals and then Grace Bullen of Norway 11-7 in the semifinals. Then in the gold medal final, Iryna Koliadenko withdrew because of injury, awarding the gold medal to Godinez Gonzalez. Purevdorjiin Orkhon of Mongolia and Bullen each won the bronze medal.
Gondinez Gonzalez is a two-time Pan American Wrestling Championship gold medalist. She won the gold medal in Acapulco, Mexico in 2022, and then again in 2023 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Godinez Gonzalez’s other notable wrestling accomplishment was winning the gold medal at the Grand Prix de France Henri Deglane in Nice in 2023.
Godinez Gonzalez’s world ranking is currently seventh with 35400 points. She is behind world number one and reigning Olympic silver medalist Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan (680000 points), world number two and reigning World Championship silver medalist Sakura Motoki of Japan (54000 points), world number three and 2022 World Championship silver medalist Bullen (52200 points), world number four and reigning Olympic bronze medalist Koliadenko (48920 points), world number five and 2021 World Champion Bilyana Zhivkova Dudova of Bulgaria (42775 points), and world number six Luisa Niemesch of Germany (39800 points).