By Gary Abbott
USA Wrestling
PARIS, France – Amit Elor, the 20-year-old sensation from the United States in women’s freestyle wrestling, has won a gold medal at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at 68 kg in women’s freestyle, becoming the youngest American wrestler of any gender or discipline to win Olympic gold.

Elor controlled 2020 Olympic bronze medalist Meerim Zhumanazarova of Kyrgyzstan in the finals on Tuesday night, 3-0. All of her points were scored in the first period, when Elor scored on a counter takedown, then added another point after Zhumanazarova was placed on the shot clock and did not score. In the second period, Elor continued to force the action, but no other points were scored.

She was dominant on Monday, beating 2023 World champion Buse Cavusoglu Tosun of Turkey, 10-2, then shut out Wiktoria Choluj of Poland, 8-0 in the quarterfinals. Her semifinals win was a 10-0 technical fall over Sol Gum Pak of North Korea.

Elor entered her first Olympics after winning Senior World gold medals at 72 kg. Her 2022 World title made her the youngest U.S. Senior World champion in any style or gender at 18 years old. She has now become the youngest U.S. Olympic wrestling champion, at age 20, younger than the then 20-year-old Kyle Snyder when he won a 2016 Olympic gold medal at 97 kg in men’s freestyle in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Elor has never lost a match on the Senior level since her debut in the 2022 season. Her Senior career record is 28-0, and she has amassed an 83-match win streak when considering all age-group competition. Her last loss was at the 2019 U17 World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, where she won a bronze medal and lost to Honaka Nakai of Japan in the semifinals, 3-1.

Elor has won eight UWW World titles in her career, including three at the U20 level, two at the U23 level and one at the U17 level.

A native of Walnut Creek, Calif., Elor won a California state girls high school title as a freshman for College Park High School, then turned her focus entirely on the international wrestling style, freestyle.

2020 Olympic bronze medalist Sarah Hildebrandt battled her way into the gold-medal finals at 50 kg, making her just the second U.S. woman to earn two Olympic medals, as she is guaranteed at least a silver medal. She is currently tied with Helen Maroulis, a 2016 Olympic champion and 2020 Olympic bronze medalist, as the only U.S. women with a second Olympic medal. Maroulis competes in two days, seeking a third Olympic medal.

Hildebrandt defeated Otgonjargal Dolgorjav of Mongolia, 5-0, avenging a loss to Dolgorjav in the semifinals of the 2023 World Championships. Hildebrandt controlled the action throughout the batch. Hildebrandt scored all of her points in the first period, getting two takedowns and another point on a caution and penalty against Dolgorjav. In the second period, Hildebrandt kept up a strong pace, and displayed some tremendous defense as needed.

Hildebrandt will battle Vinesh of India in the gold-medal finals. Vinesh knocked off the No. 1 seed, Olympic and World champion Yui Susaki of Japan in the opening round, and powered through two other opponents to become the first woman from India to reach an Olympic wrestling finals.

Hildebrandt, the No. 6 seed, opened with an impressive 10-0 technical fall over four-time African bronze medalist Ibtissem Doudou of Algeria in her opening match. In the quarterfinals, Hildebrandt was in command in a 7-4 victory over 2023 World bronze medalist Ziqi Feng of China.

Also held during the semifinals round were the Greco-Roman 77 kg and 97 kg divisions. When Mohammadhadi Saravi of Iran reached he 97 kg finals, Joe Rau (USA) was pulled back into repechage on Wednesday morning. Saravi beat Rau in the first round, and only those who lose to a finalist can wrestle back for a bronze. Rau will face Uzur Dzhuzupbekov of Kyrgyzstan in repechage. If Rau wins that repechage match, he will compete in a bronze-medal bout Wednesday night.

The other U.S. Greco-Roman wrestler who competed in Group 2 on Tuesday, Kamal Bey at 77 kg, was not eligible for repechage after losing a close opening match to two-time World champion Akzhol Makhmudov of Kyrgyzstan. Makhmudov was beaten in the quarterfinals, eliminating Bey.

The U.S. had one other athlete besides Elor competing in Group 1, Adam Coon at 130 kg in Greco-Roman, who was defeated in his first match and did not qualify for repechage. He finished 12th.

Mijian Lopez of Cuba becomes the first athlete from any sport in history to win a gold medal in the same discipline in five consecutive Olympic Games. He won the 130 kg Greco-Roman gold medal, defeating Yasmani Acosta of Chile, 6-0. After celebrating, at age 41, Lopez put his shoes on the mat, to signify his retirement. International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach was in attendance for Lopez’ historic achievement.

This was the first night of finals in wrestling, with three more gold medals awarded every night through the end of the competition on Sunday.

The first session on Wednesday begins at 11:00 a.m. Paris time, after the completion of the repechage from Monday’s weight classes (77 kg GR, 97 kg GR, 50 kg WFS) and the preliminaries of the three new weight classes (53 kg WFS, 67 kg GR, 87 kg GR). The second session will begin at 6:15 p.m. local time with the semifinals of the Group 3 weights, followed by the finals of Group 2 at 7:30 p.m., which will include Hildebrandt’s finals match.

All of the action is live on Peacock.

OLYMPIC GAMES PARIS 2024

At Paris, France, August 6

Group 1 Wrestling Final Results

Greco-Roman 60 kg

Gold - Kenichiro Fumita (Japan)

Silver - Liguo Cao (China)

Bronze – Zholaman Sharshenbekov (Kyrgyzstan)

Bronze – Se ung Ri (North Korea)

5th - Mehdi Mohsen Nejad (Iran)

5th -  Raber Rodriguez Orozco (Venezuela)

7th - Islomjon Bakhramov (Uzbekistan)

8th  Enes Basar (Turkey)

9th - Razvan Arnault (Romania)

10th - Moamen Ahmed Rabie Mohamed (Egpyt)

Gold - Kenichiro Fumita (Japan) vs. Liguo Cao (China), 4-1

Bronze – Zholaman Sharshenbekov (Kyrgyzstan) dec. Mehdi Mohsen Nejad (Iran), 3-1

Bronze – Se ung Ri (North Korea) tech fall Raber Rodriguez Orozco (Venezuela), 8-0

Greco-Roman 130 kg

Gold - Mijain Lopez (Cuba)

Silver - Yasmani Acosta (Chile)

Bronze – Amin Mirzazadeh (Iran)

Bronze – Lingzhe Meng (China)

5th - Sabah Shariati (Azerbaijan)

5th - Abdellatif Mohamed (Egypt)

7th - Mantas Knystautas (Lithuania)

8th - Alimkhan Syzdykov (Kazakhstan)

9th - Kiril Milenov Milov (Bulgaria)

10th -  Heiki Nabi (Estonia)

Gold - Mijain Lopez (Cuba) dec. Yasmani Acosta (Chile), 6-0

Bronze – Amin Mirzazadeh (Iran) dec. Sabah Shariati (Azerbaijan), 4-0

Bronze – Lingzhe Meng (China) dec. Abdellatif Mohamed (Egypt), 5-2

Women's freestyle 68 kg

Gold - Amit Elor (United States)

Silver - Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan)

Bronze –Buse Cavusoglu Tosun (Turkey)

Bronze –Nonoka Ozaki (Japan)

5th - Sol Gum Pak (North Korea)

5th - Blessing Oborududu (Nigeria)

Gold - Amit Elor (United States) dec. Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan), 3-0

Bronze –Buse Cavusoglu Tosun (Turkey) dec. Sol Gum Pak (North Korea), 4-2

Bronze –Nonoka Ozaki (Japan) dec. Blessing Oborududu (Nigeria), 3-0

Group 1 U.S. Women’s freestyle results

68 kg – Amit Elor (Walnut Creek, Calif./Titan Mercury WC/NYC RTC), Gold Medal

WIN Buse Cavusoglu Tosun (Turkey), 10-2

WIN Wiktoria Choluj (Poland), 8-0

WIN Sol Gum Pak (North Korea), tech fall 10-0

WIN Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan), 3-0

Group 1 U.S. Greco-Roman results

130 kg - Adam Coon (Fowlerville, Calif./New York AC/Cliff Keen WC), 12th place

LOSS Amin Mirzazadeh (Iran), 3-1

Group 2 finals pairings

Greco Roman 77 kg - Nao Kusaka (Japan) vs. Demeu Zhadrayev (Kazakhstan)

Greco Roman 97 kg - Artur Aleksanyan (Armenia) vs. Mohammadhadi Saravi (Iran)

Women 50 kg - Vinesh (India) vs. Sarah Hildebrandt (USA)

Group 2 semifinal results

Greco Roman 77 kg

Nao Kusaka (Japan) dec. Malkhas Amoyan (Armenia), 3-1

Demeu Zhadrayev (Kazakhstan) dec. Sanan Suleymanov (Azerbaijan), 6-1

Greco Roman 97 kg

Artur Aleksanyan (Armenia) dec. Gabriel Rosillo (Cuba), 5-3

Mohammadhadi Saravi (Iran) dec. Mohamed Gabr (Egypt), 6-0

Women 50 kg

Vinesh (India) dec. Yusneylis Guzman (Cuba), 5-0

Sarah Hildebrandt (USA) dec. Otgonjargal Dolgorjav (Mongolia), 5-0

U.S. Group 2 women’s freestyle results

50 kg – Sarah Hildebrandt (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC), in finals

WIN Ibtissem Doudou (Algeria), tech. fall 10-0. 1:34

WIN Ziqi Feng (China), 7-4

WIN Otgonjargal Dolgorjav (Mongolia), 5-0

Gold Medal bout – Vs. Vinesh (India)

U.S. Group 2 Greco-Roman results

77 kg– Kamal Bey (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP), eliminated

LOSS Akzhol Makhmudov (Kyrgyzstan), 4-1

97 kg– Joe Rau (Chicago, Ill./Titan Mercury WC), in repechage

LOSS Mohammadhadi Saravi (Iran), tech. fall 10-1Repechage – vs. Uzur Dzhuzupbekov (Kyrgyzstan)