Amit Elor wins gold medal in freestyle wrestling at Paris 2024 Olympics, youngest American champion ever

Amit Elor became the youngest American to win a Gold Medal in freestyle wrestling at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The 20-year-old phenom defeated Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan) in the finals Tuesday at 68 KG by a score of 3-0. Elor came in with a lot of hype considering she never lost a senior international wrestling match.

Elor was nearly speechless after winning gold when speaking on the Peacock broadcast.

“I just couldn’t believe that I became a champion,” Elor said after her match. “I mean, that was just like five minutes ago. I cannot believe I am the Olympia Champion. This has been my dream for my whole entire life. I just can’t comprehend it. It’s hard to believe …

“It’s such a full circle moment. Wrestling, in my opinion is one of the hardest if not the hardest sports out there. And so it takes very unique people able to wrestle. And so for me, you know, the past few months, especially after I made the Olympic team, I’ve received so many messages, especially from younger girls out there telling me their inspiration. It’s just hard to believe because it feels like just yesterday that was one of them looking up to our our veterans and our legends of the sport.”

Coming into the Olympics, Elor was the back-to-back reining World Champion at 72 KG before dropping a weight for Paris.

To start her bracket, Elor was unseeded since it was a new weight. Elor drew the reigning World Champion Buse Tosun Cavusoglu (Turkey) in the first round.

Despite that, Elor won 10-2. Then in the quarterfinals, Elor beat Poland’s Wiktoria Choluj 8-0 before winning via technical superiority in the semifinals.

Elor’s final match Monday was a 10-0 dominating display over North Korea’s Sol Gum Pak.

“I had goosebumps,” Elor said after her semifinal win, via Yahoo Sports. “I was just staring at that crowd of people cheering for me. And I was like, ‘I can’t believe this is real. I can’t believe life is real.’ That little girl that started wrestling at 4 years old is still inside of me. And she’s just looking out, like: What is happening right now?!? How did I go from local kids practice to the Olympic stage? It’s just insane.”

Born in Walnut Creek, California, she is the daughter of Israeli immigrants and the youngest of six siblings. Growing up, Elor wrestled against boys through the high school level.

Eventually, she stood above the rest, becoming a prodigy.

“The more people watch me, the more I feel that urge to explode and fight even harder,” Elor said. “And when I’m walking out and stepping onto that mat, instead of there being nerves and doubt, the second I hear everybody cheering, and I see those familiar faces, I just have this sharp focus that kicks in, and this desire to fight the second the whistle blows.”