PARIS — Amit Elor’s ultimate goal was to be an Olympic champion. The 20-year-old is now the first and youngest Team USA wrestling gold medalist at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
Elor won the gold medal in the women’s freestyle 68-kg category by defeating Kyrgyzstan’s Meerim Zhumanazarova, a 2020 Olympic bronze medalist and three-time age-group world medalist, 3-0.
“I’m still in shock,” Elor stated following the match. “I have a little impostor syndrome. As I mentioned yesterday, I still feel like a young kid who has just started wrestling, although I recently became an Olympic champion.
“So all I have to say is trust in the procedure, believe in yourself, and don’t be afraid to try things because if you don’t try at all, you immediately lose.”
Elor, a two-time world champion and Israeli-American, is competing in her first Olympic Games. She has dominated the 72kg (158.73 pounds) class for the past two years. Because 72kg is not an Olympic class, she had to either increase to 76kg (167.55 lbs.) — the heaviest weight class for women at this Olympics — or decrease to 68kg (149.9 lbs.). She decided to wrestle down.
Elor conceded only two points in four bouts in the entire Olympic event.
So, how did Elor become a wrestling sensation in the 2024 Olympics?
Take It To The Mat
Elor, the youngest of six children, comes from Walnut Creek, California, roughly 20 minutes east of Oakland, and began wrestling at four.
“My brother and sister wrestled in high school, and I would always go watch them with my mum and beg her to go on the mats,” she stated on The Bader Show podcast in September 2022. “I attended the first session and instantly fell in love. Something about the mats intrigued me.”
As a child, she also practiced judo and jiu-jitsu, which she described as “kind of like judo and wrestling combined.”
According to the Times of Israel, the judo/jiu-jitsu-wrestling combination has developed Elor “a unique wrestling style,” which her instructor claims provides her an edge over her opponents.
“By borrowing from different sports, she has more ways to score that don’t feel the same as a traditional freestyle wrestler,” her coach, 2004 Olympic silver winner Sara McMann, told the Times of Israel. McMann has had a great martial arts career dating back to the 2004 Olympics.
“[Elor] has some judo throws, she’s a purple belt in jiu-jitsu, and she blends Greco-[Roman] and freestyle wrestling,” McMann explained to the Times of Israel. “She makes it hard for people to anticipate where she’s going and what she wants to do.”
Elor won a California high school state title in folkstyle as a student at College Park High School before focusing entirely on the international style, freestyle. In 2019, at 15, Elor earned a bronze medal at wrestling’s cadet world championships.
Since 2019, Elor has become invincible. In 2022, she won the senior, U23, and U20 world titles in three months, making her the youngest U.S. senior world champion in any discipline or gender at the age of 18. She defended her championships in 2023 and won the Pan American Championships. She is the only wrestler in history to win three championships (U20, U23, and senior) in succession.
Elor was one day too young (born January 1, 2004) to be eligible for the Olympic trials in Tokyo 2020. Instead, she watched from home as Tamyra Mensah-Stock won the only gold medal for the United States women’s wrestling team at the Tokyo Games in the 68kg weight category. It boosted her motivation to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
According to United World Wrestling, before the gold medal match in Paris, Elor had 42 wins since 2019, outscoring her opponents 375-19 during the previous five years.
Despite his several victories, Elor has struggled with confidence and belief. Her coaches were tough growing up, and she didn’t consider herself a decent wrestler.
“Not much positivity in the wrestling room,” she told me.
“Even after my accomplishments, I was always very negative with myself,” she told me. “So it’s taken a lot of therapy and support for me to start to believe in myself and my skills and think of myself as a good wrestler.”
Elor has also benefited from experience, such as winning three world championships the same summer.
Elor has also experienced tragedy. In 2018, a robbery claimed the life of one of her older brothers. Her father, Yair, died in 2022 at the age of 64. He and Elana, Elor’s mother, had emigrated to the United States from Israel in 1980 to study college.
“I’ve had a lot of traumatic life experiences,” he remarked. “I think that helps you learn how to block things out and just focus on the present and living your life, and I think I use those skills out here when there’s all that pressure.”
Paris Olympic Games
Elor, who wrestled in a new weight class in Paris, was not seeded for the 2024 Olympic event. In advancing to the gold medal finals, she defeated three opponents, including 2023 world champion Buse Cavusoglu Tosun of Turkey, 10-2, and a quick 10-0 technical fall over North Korea’s Sol Gum Pak in the quarterfinals. Cavusoglu Tosun won the Olympic bronze in Paris.
“I was like, I can’t believe this is real; I can’t believe life is real,” Elor said after qualifying for the gold medal match. “Because the little girl who started wrestling at four is still inside me. And she’s just gazing, like, “What’s going on right now?”
Faced with Zhumanazarova for gold, Elor knew what she was in for. She had battled the 24-year-old Kyrgyzstani athlete in grueling bouts at international training camps, something she kept in mind during the gold-medal bout.
“I also trusted that my abilities would improve,” she explained. I know she’s an excellent, strong wrestler, so my mindset going into the match was to be patient, stay in a good position, and trust in my wrestling style and skills.”
Elor still needs to be finished. Her main objective is to compete in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, in addition to becoming an Olympic champion.
“I am born and bred in California,” she added, “so having the opportunity to compete and represent my country and my state is fantastic. I’ve been excited since I heard about it.”
Peggy Shinn, an award-winning freelance writer from Vermont, is in Paris to cover her sixth Olympic Games. She has contributed to TeamUSA.org since it was founded in 2008.
In conclusion, Amit Elor’s Olympic gold medal achievement demonstrates her exceptional talent and perseverance. Being the youngest Team USA wrestler to accomplish this milestone is a historic achievement that will be remembered for years. Elor’s victory not only represents a personal milestone but also raises the profile of American wrestling on the international scene. Amit Elor’s name will become synonymous with athletic brilliance and inspiration as she progresses.
Thank you for visiting here…..
Read More: Gabby Thomas Wins Women’s 200-Meter Gold In Dominant Fashion
