Clarissa Chun typically tries to shy away from the spotlight. The head coach of Iowa’s first women’s wrestling team summarizes her illustrious wrestling career—which includes an Olympic bronze medal in London 2012 and a World Championship title—in about 90 seconds, and her response to the standing ovation she received upon being introduced to Hawkeye fans at a men’s wrestling meet was, “Oh gosh, this is wild!”
But she couldn’t evade her newfound celebrity status while attending the women’s wrestling national championship in May 2022. The young athletes who had traveled to Fort Worth for the meet flocked to her for a chance to speak to the leader of the first-ever Power 5 women’s wrestling program.