Yu Darvish's wife Seiko's 3-word reaction to Olympic champion Amit Elor's training shows the ex-world champion's love for the sport

San Diego Padres ace Yu Darvish's wife, Seiko Yamamoto, is a wrestler and submission grappler. The 44-year-old has won the freestyle wrestling gold in five World Championships and a submission wrestling bronze at the ADCC Championships.

On Tuesday, Seiko shared American wrestler Amit Elor's post on her Instagram story. Elor is a decorated wrestler, having won the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics at 68 kg and the World Championships at 72 kg in 2022 and 2023.

Her triumph in Paris at 20 made her the youngest U.S. wrestler to win Olympic gold. Kyle Snyder was the previous record holder. Elor's Instagram post showed her training with Beka Lomtadzet, a Georgian wrestler. The words on the video read:

"Come with me for Wrestling practice."

Resharing the post on her Instagram story, Seiko captioned the post in three words.

"My favorite word," Seiko wrote, showing love for the sport.

Screenshot of Seiko's Instagram story (Source - Instagram/seiko_darvish)

Seiko has connections with the U.S. Olympic team, as she was a coach during and before the 2016 Rio Olympics. She coached wrestlers Jacarra Winchester and Victoria Anthony, who later threw the ceremonial first pitch for the Padres.

With Yu Darvish, Seiko has four children. She also has a son with former partner Hideaki Nagashima, a handball player. Darvish also has two boys with his ex-wife, Saeko, a Japanese model and actress.

Yu Darvish's wife Seiko's martial arts family

Yu Darvish, full name Farid Yu Darvish Sefat, is the son of an Iranian father and a Japanese mother. The Padres ace's father, Farsad Darvish Sefat, played soccer and was a motocross racer for Berkshire School.

As for Darvish's wife, Seiko, the decorated amateur wrestler comes from a family of martial artists. Her father, Ikuei Yamamoto, born in 1945, represented Japan at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Her older sister, Miyuu, born in 1974, was a freestyle wrestler, winning gold at three World Championships and a silver. Miyuu also competed in MMA, exclusively for RIZIN. She once challenged for the atomweight title but came up short. She retired from the sport in December 2023.

Seiko's late older brother, Norifumi, born in 1977, was a mixed martial artist. Simultaneous with MMA, Seiko's brother competed in kickboxing and submission grappling. He died in 2018 after a prolonged battle with stomach cancer.

Norifumi sported an 18-6 (2) MMA record 0-3 (1) in the UFC. He competed from bantamweight to lightweight and fought Demetrious Johnson and Bibiano Fernandes, who later became icons of the sport.