Women's freestyle 72 kilograms competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, was held on August 17 at the China Agricultural University Gymnasium.
Wang Jiao is a female Chinese freestyle wrestler who won gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Ali Bernard is a female wrestler, who competes in the women's freestyle heavyweight (72 kg) division.
Annabelle Laure Ali is a female freestyle wrestler from Cameroon. She participated in the Women's Freestyle 72 kg event at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where she lost in the 1/8 final to Agnieszka Wieszczek. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she lost to Stanka Zlateva in the quarterfinals. As Zlateva proceeded to the final, Ali was part of the bronze medal repechage, where she lost to Vasilisa Marzaliuk. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she was also the Cameroonian flag-bearer at the opening ceremony.
Stanka Zlateva Hristova is a retired female Bulgarian freestyle wrestler. She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, winning silver medals in the latter two events. She was named World Female Wrestler of the Year in 2006 and 2007 and Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year in 2007, 2010 and 2011.
Radoslav Marinov Velikov is a Bulgarian freestyle wrestler. He has been engaged in wrestling since 1997 and he currently competes for Levski Sofia, where his coach is former world champion and triple European champion Simeon Shterev, who also used to coach Stanka Zlateva. Velikov won the 2006 World Championships in Guangzhou and came second in 2005 in Budapest. He came second at the European Championships in Varna in 2005 and third in Europe in Sofia in 2007. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens he came ninth.
Oksana Vashchuk is a female freestyle wrestler from Ukraine who participated in women's freestyle wrestling 72 kg at 2008 Summer Olympics. She lost in 1/8 final to Maider Unda of Spain.
Jenny Fransson is a female freestyle wrestler from Sweden who participated in women's freestyle wrestling 72 kg at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics.
Monika Ewa Michalik is a freestyle wrestler from Poland. She participated in Women's freestyle 63 kg at 2008 Summer Olympics. In the last 16, she beat Volha Khilko from Belarus. In the quarter-finals Michalik lost to the French wrestler Lise Golliot-Legrand.
Yuliya Ratkevich is a Belarusian-born Azerbaijani female wrestler. She is the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist in women's freestyle 55 kg. Early in her career, she competed for Belarus.
Babita Kumari Phogat is an Indian wrestler, who won the gold medal in 2014 Commonwealth Games. She also won silver medals at 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2010 Commonwealth Games and a bronze medal at the 2012 World Wrestling Championships. Babita Phogat entered politics by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019.
Bulgaria competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012. It was the nation's nineteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, having missed the Olympics on three occasions, including the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles because of the Soviet boycott. Despite this being London's third Olympic Games, this was the first time a Bulgarian team appeared at a London Olympics. The Bulgarian Olympic Committee sent the nation's smallest delegation to the Games, tying the record with Helsinki in 1952, and with Tokyo in 1964. A total of 63 athletes, 36 men and 27 women, competed in 16 sports. Men's volleyball was the only team event in which Bulgaria was represented in these Olympic games. There was only a single competitor in badminton, sprint canoeing, fencing, and judo.
Vasilisa Aliaksandraŭna Marzaliuk is a Belarusian wrestler. She is a three-time World bronze medalist and the 2011 European silver medalist. In June 2015, she represented Belarus at the inaugural European Games, winning gold in the women's freestyle 75 kg.
Natalia Vitalyevna Vorobieva is a Russian wrestler, who has won the Olympic, World and European titles.
Aisuluu Tynybekova is a Kyrgyz freestyle wrestler. She won the silver medal in the women's 62 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. She also competed in the women's 63 kg event at the 2012 Summer Olympics, the first woman to wrestle for Kyrgyzstan in the Olympics. A legal dispute threatened to prevent Tynybekova from competing in London, but the case was delayed until after the Games. Tynybekova was eliminated in the 1/8 finals by Henna Johansson.
Ana Talía Betancur is a Colombian female wrestler.
Toccara Montgomery is a retired amateur American freestyle wrestler, who competed in the women's heavyweight category. She won four U.S. national titles (2001–2004), scored two silver medals in the 68 and 72-kg division at the World Championships, and finished seventh at the 2004 Summer Olympics, considering one of the most dominant female wrestlers in United States sporting history.
Vinesh Phogat is an Indian wrestler. She became the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold at both the Commonwealth and Asian Games. She is the only Indian woman wrestler to win multiple medals at the World Wrestling Championships. Phogat became the first Indian athlete to be nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards in 2019.
Yasemin Adar Yiğit is a Turkish freestyle wrestler competing in the 76 kg division. 2 times world and 7 times European champions. She also won one of the bronze medals in the women's 76 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Alla Belinska is a Ukrainian freestyle wrestler. She is a three-time medalist, including gold, at the European Wrestling Championships. She represented Ukraine at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
