Grace Bullen

Grace Jacob Bullen (born 7 February 1997) is a Norwegian freestyle wrestler. She is a two-time gold medalist at the European Wrestling Championships and she won a bronze medal for Norway at the 2015 European Games held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Grace Bullen
Personal information
Full nameGrace Jacob Bullen
Born (1997-02-07) 7 February 1997
Sport
CountryNorway
SportAmateur wrestling
Event(s)Freestyle
Coached byGheorghe Costin
Medal record
Women's freestyle wrestling
Representing  Norway
European Championships
2017 Novi Sad 58 kg
2020 Rome 57 kg
2016 Riga 58 kg
European Games
2015 Baku 58 kg
Golden Grand Prix Ivan Yarygin
2019 Krasnoyarsk 57 kg
World U23 Championships
2018 Bucharest 59 kg

Early life

Born in a refugee camp in Eritrea to South Sudanese parents, she moved to Fredrikstad, Norway in 2001 at the age of four.[1] Already at the age of four she took up wrestling in the martial arts club Atlas.[1][2]

Career

At the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics held in Nanjing, China, she represented Norway and she won the gold medal in the girls' 60 kg event.[3][4] In the final, she defeated Pei Xingru of China.[3][4] In 2015, she represented Norway at the 2015 European Games held in Baku, Azerbaijan and she won one of the bronze medals in the women's 58 kg event.[5] She lost her first match against Emese Barka of Hungary and entered the repechage.[5] Here she won against Valeria Koblova by walkover and she defeated Irina Netreba of Azerbaijan in the bronze medal match.[5] She also competed in the women's 58 kg event at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships held in Las Vegas, United States where she was eliminated in her second match by Marianna Sastin of Hungary.

In 2016, she won the silver medal in the women's 58 kg at the 2016 European Wrestling Championships held in Riga, Latvia.[6] In the final, she lost against Nataliya Synyshyn of Azerbaijan. The following year, she won the gold medal in the same event at the 2017 European Wrestling Championships held in Novi Sad, Serbia.[7][8] In the final, she defeated Mariana Cherdivara of Moldova.[7] In the same year, she was eliminated in her first match in the women's 58 kg event at the 2017 World Wrestling Championships held in Paris, France.

In 2018, she competed in the 57 kg event at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary.[9] She won her first match against Giullia Penalber of Brazil and her next match against Jong In-sun of North Korea.[9] She then lost her next match against Rong Ningning of China; Rong went on to win the gold medal.[9] Bullen then failed to secure the bronze medal in her match against Pooja Dhanda of India.[9] A month later, at the 2018 World U23 Wrestling Championship held in Bucharest, Romania, she won the gold medal in the women's 59 kg event.[10] In the final, she defeated Rong Ningning of China.[10]

In 2019, she won one of the bronze medals in the women's 57 kg event at the Golden Grand Prix Ivan Yarygin 2019 held in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. In the same year, she also competed in the 57 kg event at the 2019 European Games held in Minsk, Belarus where she lost her bronze medal match against Anastasia Nichita of Moldova.[11] In 2020, she won the gold medal in the 57 kg event at the 2020 European Wrestling Championships held in Rome, Italy.[12] In the final, she defeated Alina Akobiia of Ukraine.[12]

Major results
Year Tournament Location Result Event
2015 European Games Baku, Azerbaijan 3rd Freestyle 58 kg
2016 European Championships Riga, Latvia 2nd Freestyle 58 kg
2017 European Championships Novi Sad, Serbia 1st Freestyle 58 kg
2020 European Championships Rome, Italy 1st Freestyle 57 kg

References
  1. "Grace Bullen is fighting for a medal in the Olympics". Scandinavian Traveler. 19 March 2020. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  2. Bovim, Helge (15 January 2019). "Ingen bedre enn Bullen". Demokraten (in Norwegian). pp. 14–15.
  3. "Wrestling: New stars of the mat emerge in Nanjing". Olympic News. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  4. "Wrestling Results Book" (PDF). 2014 Summer Youth Olympics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 June 2020.
  5. "2015 European Games Results" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 April 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  6. "2016 European Wrestling Championships Results Book" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  7. Etchells, Daniel (5 May 2017). "Turkey's Akgul reclaims crown at European Wrestling Championships". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  8. "2017 European Wrestling Championships Results" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 December 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  9. "2018 World Wrestling Championships Results" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 April 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  10. Rowbottom, Mike (15 November 2018). "Norway's Bullen beats China's senior world champion to lift UWW under-23 title". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  11. "2019 European Games Wrestling Results" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  12. "2020 European Wrestling Championships Results" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
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