Janice R. Andrews
PARIS: The most dominant athlete on Team USA is a 150-pound invincible rock. When she sprang onto the mat on Monday to make her Olympic debut, fear appeared to immobilize even world champions. They fought in straight lines, afraid of American sensation Amit Elor and hesitant to engage in combat with the lady who would eventually overcome them.
Twenty-year-old Elor has never lost a senior international match in wrestling. At 72 kilograms, one of the four weight classes excluded from the Olympics, she is the current world champion in three consecutive years, as well as the under-23 and under-20 divisions. Elor decided to drop to 68 kg, and despite not being seeded at that weight, she managed to draw the world champion in the class, Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu from Turkey, in the opening Olympic round.
She then went after Tosun. She eventually forced Tosun’s distraught head to the floor after winning point after point. The only thing that surprised anybody here at the Arena Champ-de-Mars was not the huge margin of victory—she won 10-2.
Following her first two wins, Elor’s coach, Sara McMann, remarked, “I’m surprised anybody scored on her at all.”
Amit Elor, 20, is moving on to the 68kg freestyle final on Thursday, when she will compete for her first Olympic gold medal! Pic.twitter.com/L64zcj7KDk #ParisOlympics
— August 5, 2024, NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics)
Wiktoria Choluj, the Polish opponent, was on the edge of tears in the post-match interview zone after losing the second round by an 8-0 margin in the quarterfinal. Choluj rested on a railing and threw her chin down now and again.
How about Elor?
A few seconds later, she declared, “I’m pretty happy with how I did today.”
Soon after, she defeated Sol Gum Pak of North Korea in a semifinal match that was stopped by mercy rule. She scored 10 points in 27 seconds with a takedown and four turns.
She hauled herself to her knees this time. She put her palms to her face, her nails adorned with stars and stripes.
“I felt shivers,” she subsequently related. “All I could do was look at the group of people who were supporting me.” And I thought, “This is unbelievable.” It’s unbelievable that life exists. I still have that young girl inside of me who began wrestling at the age of four. She’s just staring out, thinking to herself, “What is going on right now?!” How did I get from the Olympic stage to the local children’s practice? It is simply crazy.
California’s Walnut Creek is where Elor was born and reared. The youngest of six siblings and the daughter of Israeli immigrants, she discovered wrestling while accompanying a parent to her elder brother’s practice. Her dad had thrown shot put in college, so she was drawn to a more physical activity, even if it was often inhospitable to ladies. She was pushed toward more stereotypical girlie sports, although all of her brothers played football or wrestled.
She wrestled boys throughout her first several years in the sport. They would gripe about having to fight her. Additionally, according to her mother, “many coaches didn’t like it once she started beating up the boys.”
On Monday, Elor also recalled that a lot of her early mentors were “extremely hard on me.” There’s not much optimism in the wrestling room,” she remarked. She then said, “I’ve always believed that I was not good at wrestling.” “Even after I achieved success, I was never good with myself.”
But the successes continued to roll in. The training became more intense and included jiu-jitsu and judo. Rivals from high school had no chance. At the 2019 Under-17 World Championships, Elor suffered a single defeat. At the moment, she responded, “I’ll get it next year.” Since then, she has never lost a bout of any sort, anywhere, at any weight.
She was born on January 1, 2004, making her age limit for the Olympic trials in 2020 by one day. However, she had Paris 2024 in her sights. She also tried to regain the confidence that her early instructors had taken from her as she continued to win. “It has required a great deal of healing and support for me to begin to think of myself as a good wrestler and to start believing in myself and my abilities,” she remarked. She attributed “changing my relationship with wrestling” to McMann, with whom she had a connection at the U-20 Worlds the previous year.
Elor declared, “I’m really beginning to love the sport again.” “This has been a long journey.”
With an overall record of 322-16 in her previous 37 international matches, she went into the Olympics undefeated. The required weight-class switch was the sole kink in her preparations. The Olympics only have six divisions, none of which are hers, but United World Wrestling provides ten in its championships. Thus, in order to get ready for the greatest meets of her life, Elor made the decision to lose about eight pounds.
Due to an oddity, she was also officially unranked and had to compete in a first-round match that was fit for a gold medal match. The reason Elor wasn’t happy with the draw wasn’t because she was afraid of Tosun, the number one seed and 2023 world champion.
“Aw, I gotta wrestle her again?” was Elor’s initial thinking, he admitted.
When they had previously met, Elor had pinned Tosun in under 40 seconds.
Amit ELOR and Buse TOSUN recently faced off in a wrestling match, where Elor quickly pintied Tosun 🤯
At 68 kg, they will square off in their first match tomorrow at #Paris2024.
We’ll end this with this: pic.twitter.com/NxmeMYcQZE #wrestling #OlympicGames @USAWrestling supporters
— August 4, 2024, United World Wrestling (@wrestling)
A fresh task would have pleased her. “I wanted Nonoka Ozaki, the favorite for the Japanese medal, on my side so I could wrestle her sooner,” she remarked. However, do you know what? It’s conceivable that our paths will intersect. We’ll see, then.
Regarding it, she was mistaken. Ozaki suffered a stunning quarterfinal loss. Naturally, Elor didn’t.
With swift intent, she strode onto the Olympic stage. Thousands of eyes and a camera watched her every step. The enormity of the situation would be intimidating to many 20-year-olds, but not to Elor.
She said, “I feel like I want to explode and fight even harder the more people watch me.” “And when I hear everyone cheering and see those familiar faces as I step onto that mat, instead of feeling nervous or doubtful, I just have this laser-like focus that turns on and this desire to fight the moment the whistle blows.”
And she engaged in combat. She launched herself at all of her rivals, sending them flying into the air or onto their bellies. They were cautioned for “passivity,” so they repeatedly declined to confront Elor, even when they were behind by a number of points. Instead, they chose to give up additional points. At the conclusion of every six-minute game, Tosun and Choluj were completely discouraged.
At that same time, Elor transitioned from fighting mode. She is “only thinking about the match in front of me… and fighting non-stop, getting my points, and winning” for six minutes, or 1:44 in the semifinal.
After the game, I glance around and think, ‘Oh my god,’ I realize. Savor this particular moment. Savor this particular moment. Sensate it.
She is certain of a medal in the Olympic final. Almost everyone present at Champ-de-Mars is confident that it will be a gold mine.
