(Photo courtesy NMU) American and former Northern Michigan University U.S. Olympic Education Center wrestler Helen Maroulis, second from left, poses with her bronze medal with other medal winners in the women’s 57-kilogram (125.7-pound) division at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris on Aug. 9.

MARQUETTE — A pair of wrestlers with connections to Northern Michigan University competed at the Paris Summer Olympic games last week in the French capital.

Former NMU U.S. Olympic Education Center athlete Helen Maroulis captured her third Olympic medal in women’s freestyle, while current Wildcats’ Greco-Roman grappler Payton Jacobson was eliminated in his first match during his first Olympics two days earlier.

Maroulis, who moved to Marquette her senior year of high school, 2008-09, and attended Marquette Senior High School while training at the NMU facility, won a bronze medal in Paris after winning the same medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games in 2021 and a gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

She wrestled at 53 kilograms (116.9 pounds) in 2016, then at 57 kg (125.7 lbs.) in 2021 and 2024.

Maroulis, 32, opened her run in Paris with a 7-2 win in the round of 16 over Anshu Malik of India and a 7-4 victory in the quarterfinals over Alina Hrushyna of Ukraine on Aug. 8.

Then Maroulis lost 10-4 to Tsugumi Sakurai of Japan in the semifinals on the same day. Sakurai went on to capture the gold medal.

The semifinal loss put Maroulis in the bronze medal match the next day, where she defeated Hannah Taylor of Canada 4-0, scoring all four technical points in the first of two periods.

Jacobson, 21, debuted in the Olympics in the early afternoon of Aug. 7, which was about 6:30 a.m. in Marquette, in the round of 16 in the 87 kg (191.8 lb.) division of Greco-Roman wrestling, where wrestlers are only allowed to use their upper bodies for holds and moves.

The Elkhorn, Wisconsin, native lost 10-0 on technical superiority to Aleksandr Komarov of Serbia, who is a five-time age group world champion. They took part in a pair of three-minute periods, with Jacobson in the battle for the victory in the first minute until Komarov collected four points with 4:58 left.

With Komarov collecting another point about a minute later, he added a sequence worth another five points with 3:50 left for the final score.

Because Komarov was defeated in the quarterfinals, Jacobson was eliminated from the “second chance” repechage round as only wrestlers who lost to finalists were eligible.

Jacobson was an underdog throughout U.S. qualifying, starting as the No. 7 seed among nine challenge bracket wrestlers as he worked his way through three victories just to get to a match against No. 1 seed Spencer Woods. He beat Woods in a best-of-three match in April at Penn State University to earn his ticket to Paris.

He was reported by NMU Sports Information to be training in the eastern European countries of Croatia and Hungary along with Colorado Springs and Marquette back in the U.S. leading up to the Olympics. After the Olympic opening ceremonies on July 26, Jacobson was also scheduled to head to Normandy, France, for more training as his event didn’t start for another 12 days near the end of the two-week Olympic run.

Video of Jacobson’s match is available on Peacock TV by going to the 1:42:00 mark of wrestling from that day on the NBC streaming service’s website.

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Information compiled by Marquette Mining Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.