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Hawkeyes hire Olympic bronze medalist Clarissa Chun as their first women's wrestling coach

Chun, a former world champion, spent the last four years as an assistant with USA wrestling.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Editor's note: The above video is from Sept. 23.

The University of Iowa has hired Olympic bronze medalist Clarissa Chun as its first women's wrestling coach.

The Hawkeyes, who in September became the first Power Five team to announce plans to add women's wrestling as a sanctioned sport, will begin competing in the 2023-24 season.

Chun took fifth at the 2008 Beijing Games before earning a bronze medal at the 2012 London Games. She also won a world championship in Japan in 2008.

Chun spent the last four years as an assistant coach with the women's program for USA Wrestling. She helped the Americans finish second at the most recent world championships in Oslo. 

"Clarissa Chun has charisma. She has credentials. She has championships," said Hawkeyes' men's coach Tom Brands. "She commands respect and the wrestlers that come to school here are going to love her. This is a big deal for the University of Iowa."

Chun will be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in June 2022, becoming just the fourth woman to earn the honor.

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