Elor takes gold on Day 2; will Hildebrandt repeat this moment?

Photos: Amit Elor (left) flew with the American flag after the 20-year-old women’s freestyler became the third all-time American woman to win an Olympic championship when she claimed the crown at 68 kilograms. Sarah Hildebrandt (right), a 2020 bronze medalist, hopes to become the fourth when she shoots to win the 50-kilo women’s freestyle crown tomorrow evening. (Photos by Justin Hoch)

By Tristan Warner

PARIS – A historic day of Olympic wrestling in Paris’ Champ de Mars Arena Tuesday was headlined by Amit Elor becoming the youngest American wrestler — of any style — to ever win a gold medal, as the women’s freestyler captured the coveted gold in the 68 kg weight class.

WIN editor Bryan Van Kley (left) and assistant editor Tristan Warner are in Paris all week covering the Olympics. Click on image to watch today’s video recap.

Amit Elor becomes America’s youngest Golden Girl

Amit Elor became the youngest American (20 years and seven months) to win an Olympic gold medal in the sport of wrestling, regardless of gender and style, Tuesday night in Paris.

The Walnut Creek, Calif. native capped off the historic performance with a controlling 3-0 victory over Kyrgyzstan’s Meerim Zhumanazurova, using a first period takedown and shot clock point to earn her first Olympic gold medal.

“I’m still in disbelief,” said Elor, who broke the mark set by Kyle Snyder, then 20 years and nine months in 2016. “Sorry to joke, but I think I still have a little bit of imposter syndrome. I still feel like that little kid who just started wrestling, but I currently just became an Olympic champion. So, all I have to say is trust in the process and believe in yourself.”

Amit Elor, a two-time World champ at 72 kilos, blanked Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan), 3-0, to claim the gold medal at 68 kilos. (Justin Hoch photo)

Elor emphasized her mental and tactical approach heading into the biggest match of her young career was to, simply, be her … before she eventually joined Helen Maroulis (2016) and Tamyra Mensah Stock (2020) as the only U.S. women to claim Olympic gold.

“I think often times we feel like we need to rise to the occasion and make changes and adjustments for a big match, like the Olympics. The truth is we don’t; we should always be trying our very best and giving it our all whether it’s the Trials or any other match.”

With her eyes set on the future, Elor has a date and location marked on her futuristic calendar with her sights set on accomplishing this feat again, only next time closer to home.

“My biggest dream of all time is going to the 2028 Olympics because I am from California; I was born and raised there and it is my favorite place to live. So, the opportunity to compete and represent not only my country but also to compete in my state is incredible, and I have been excited about it ever since I heard about it.”

Relentless Hildebrandt reaches gold-medal match

Emerging from the sixth-seed, Hildebrandt posted three consecutive wins on Tuesday in women’s freestyle competition, earning a finals berth at 50 kilograms.

Sarah Hildebrandt’s leg lace helped her outscore three foes 22-4 at 50 kilogram. (Justin Hoch photo)

After a 10-0 technical fall over Algeria’s Ibtissem Doudou, the Grander, Ind., native outlasted China’s Feng Ziqi, 7-4, in a back-and-forth offensive display that saw the pair trade two sets of takedowns in the first frame.

In Tuesday evening’s semifinal round, Hildebrandt delivered a stingy performance, using counter offense to convert consecutive takedowns before holding off several late leg attack attempts by her Mongolian counterpart for a decisive shutout victory.

The four-time World medalist and 2020 Olympic bronze medalist will battle one of the biggest headliners of Olympic wrestling thus far in India’s Vinesh Phogat, the first woman from her country to reach an Olympic final in wrestling.

Entering the tournament unseeded, Vinesh posted a historic victory Tuesday morning, defeating Japan’s four-time World champion and 2020 Olympic champion Yui Susaki, who had never lost a wrestling match in international competition.

Hildebrandt is 0-2 all-time against Vinesh dating back to 2019, where the Indian was victorious 8-2 at the World Championship and by a pin at the 2019 Dan Kolov Tournament.

Wednesday’s finals are set for 7:30 p.m. local time.  (Paris is six hours ahead of Eastern time in the United States.)

Cuba’s Lopez makes wrestling, Olympic history

The fans at Champ de Mars Arena Tuesday evening not only witnessed a historic spectacle for the sport of wrestling but for the Olympics in general, as Mijain Lopez became the first athlete in Olympic history to ever win a gold medal in the same event for five consecutive Olympic Games.

Mijain Lopez (left) of Cuba made Chile’s Acosta his latest victim en route to claiming a fifth straight Olympic championship. (Justin Hoch photo)

Lopez, who competed in six Olympic events total, won his fifth and final gold medal for his storied career this evening in the 130-kilogram Greco-Roman bracket before leaving his shoes at center mat to signify his retirement.

Rau still alive, Bey eliminated in Greco-Roman

In Tuesday’s Greco-Roman competition, Americans Kamal Bey (77 kg) and Joe Rau (97 kg) dropped their opening round bouts, and Bey was eliminated from competition when his opponent failed to reach the finals.

Bey, a native of Oak Park, Ill., battled third-seeded two-time World champion Akzhol Makhmudov of Kyrgyzstan but fell by a 4-1 margin.

“Not disappointed at all,” Bey stated. “This is the Olympic Games; you’re competing against the cream of the crop at your weight class. He’s a great opponent and a good friend of mine. We battled and put on a show for the fans. I had a lot of fun and had a blast.”

Bey surrendered two passivity points, one in each period, to go along with two stepout points, both of which came in the second frame, in the match.

“I think I opened too much in the second period and gave him a little gleam of hope. I should have tried to assert my dominance in the middle of the mat. Unfortunately, I didn’t and gave up a couple push-outs, and just started a little too late.”

Joe Rau lost his only Greco-Roman match at 97 kilos but will get a chance to compete in Wednesday’s repechage in Greco-Roman. (Justin Hoch photo)

Rau, also competing in his first Olympics, lost via technical fall to Iran’s third-seeded MohammadhadiSuravi, 10-1.

Saravi broke the match open in the second period following a 1-1 deadlock, as the Iranian scored a barrage of points on two gut-wrenches from par-terre, a takedown and another gutwrench to reach the eight-point superiority threshold.

Rau was pulled back into the repechage for bronze medal contention after Suravi won his quarterfinal and semifinal matches later Tuesday afternoon.

The 97-kilogram American will square off with Uzur Dzhuzupbekov of Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. local time, with the winner of that match advancing to the bronze medal bout on Wednesday evening.

Jacobson, Parrish receive draws for Wednesday’s action

 Greco-Roman 87k – Payton Jacobson (USA) vs. Aleksandr Komarov (Serbia) in the R16; Komarov had represented Russia in the past is a five-time age-group World champ (U23 in 2021), who also competed for Russia in the 2019 Worlds.

Women’s Freestyle 53k – Dom Parrish (USA) to meet Akari Fujinami (Japan) in R16; Fujinami, 20, won World championships in both 2021 and 2023; also won U17 Worlds in 2018.

Tuesday’s Full Match Notes

Women’s Freestyle

50k – Sarah Hildebrandt

R16 – Hildebrandt won by TF over Ibtissem Doudou (Algeria), 10-0 — Hildebrandt scored the bout’s only takedown off a single with 1:37 left in the first period and transitioned to four consecutive leg laces to end the bout 21 seconds later.

Quarterfinals – Hildebrandt dec. Feng Zigi (China), 7-4 — In match that changed leads four times, Hildebrandt clinched a second straight Olympic semifinal when she scored a third takedown on a go-behind with 40 seconds left in the bout. Hildebrandt gave up a takedown nearly a minute into the bout before she scored a reversal and then a shuck to a go-behind with 1:19 left in the first to lead 3-2. Feng scored a takedown defending a Hildebrandt shuck to lead 4-3 before Hildebrandt added another takedown with 13 ticks left in the first frame.

Semifinals — Hildebrandt dec. Otgonjargal Dolgorav (Mongolia), 5-0 — Facing a foe who defeated Hildebrandt in each of the last two World Championships, Hildebrandt scored all of her points in the first period. Four of those points came on two takedowns, the second after she countered a tough shot by the Mongolian. The final point came when Dolgorav was cautioned for fleeing. Hildebrandt clinched her first Olympic final at the end of the second period when she twice fought off shots by the Mongolian.

Greco-Roman

77k – Kamal Bey (did not place)

R16 – lost to Akzhol Makhmudov, Kyrgyzstan, 4-1 – Trailing just 1-0 at the break after giving up a passivity point to the World champ, Bey gave up a pair of pushouts in the first minute of the second frame, then got called for passivity again to trail 4-0 with 1:45 left. Bey’s only point came via a pushout with 28 seconds left. Bey was eliminated when Makhmudov lost his next match to Demeu Zhadrayev (Kazahkstan).

97k – Joe Rau (in repechage)

R16 – lost by TF to Mohammadhadi Saravi (Iran), 10-1 — With the match tied 1-1 at the break, the World champ from Iran turned a passivity point into a pair of guts that gave him a 6-1 lead. Saravi ended the bout on a takedown and another gutwrench to end the match ending with 1:23 left. Rau stayed alive for Wednesday’s repechage when Saravi reached the final.

Women’s Freestyle

68k — Amit Elor (gold medalist)

Gold-medal match — dec. Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan), 3-0 — The 20-year-old native of California became the youngest American in any style and just the third American woman to win an Olympic gold medal by scoring all her points in the first period. All three came with about one minute left in the first frame when Elor scored a takedown about the same time Zhumanazarovan had been placed on passivity shot clock.