2024-08-06 13:55:02
PARIS — While all the trophies, titles and victories piled up and years passed without a defeat as she became an American wrestling prodigy, Amit Elor continued to tangle with one of her toughest opponents.
Her battle to believe in herself.
“I’ve never been an athlete with a lot of confidence, so it’s been quite a journey for me to truly believe in myself,” the youngest World champion in American wrestling history revealed Monday amid her run to the Olympic finals. “But I’ve had such an amazing support system develop over the past two years and everybody’s been telling me how much they believe in me, so I think it’s time for me to believe in myself.”
This is Amit Elor talking about her struggle to gain self-confidence in a sport she’s dominated to the tune of two Senior-level World titles while still a teenager, along with the six other age-group World belts she’s accumulated.
This is Amit Elor, who hasn’t lost a match since 2019.
“Growing up, I’ve had quite a few coaches who have been very tough on me — not a lot of positivity in the wrestling room,” she said. “I’ve always believed that I was not good at wrestling. Over the years — even after my accomplishments — I was always very negative with myself. So it’s taken a lot of healing and a lot of support for me to start to believe in myself and my abilities to think of myself as a good wrestler.”
Elor is one victory from elevating herself into another category — Olympic gold medalist.
The 20-year-old California native dismantled the top side of the 68-kilogram bracket Monday, outscoring her three opponents by a combined 28-2 count. She dusted reigning World champ Buse Tosun of Turkey 10-2 in the opening round, handled Poland’s Wiktoria Choluj 8-0 in the quarterfinals and then rolled up North Korea’s Sol Gum Pak 10-0 with a takedown and four leg laces in the opening period.
The match-ending turn against Pak prompted Elor to drop to her knees with her face in her hands in a moment of stunned disbelief as the crowd inside Champ de Mars Arena erupted. Alongside the American contingent sat fans waving Israel flags in support of Elor, whose parents grew up in the country before moving to the United States.
“I had goosebumps and I was just staring at that crowd of people just cheering for me and I was like, ‘I can’t believe this is real, I can’t believe life is real’ because 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?” Elor said. “How did I go from this local kids practice to the Olympic stage?”
International wrestling’s biggest platform brought out Elor’s best Monday. She controlled the center of the mat, methodically taking ground and picking her spots to attack while rarely leaving openings for her opponents.
“She has a really hard style to predict,” said Sara McMann, a 2004 Olympic silver medalist who became Elor’s personal coach after they met last summer at the U20 World Championships. “She has a blend of judo, jiu-jitsu and Greco-Roman. She isn’t a traditional freestyle wrestler. She feels different, so it’s very hard to train for someone like her.”
Elor wrestles again Tuesday with an opportunity to follow Helen Maroulis and Tamyra Mensah-Stock and become the third American woman to win a women’s freestyle Olympic gold. Elor will face Kyrgyzstan’s Meerim Zhumanazarova, a 2021 World champion who used a late score in the quarterfinals to knock off two-time World champ Nonoka Ozaki of Japan before downing Olympic silver medalist Blessing Oborududu of Nigeria in the semifinals.
A reporter in the mixed zone asked Elor Monday night about securing her first Olympic medal. It’s a thought that hadn’t even crossed her mind until that point, Elor said.
“In order for me to go out there and function, I’m not even thinking about the Olympics,” she said. “I’m only thinking about the match in front of me and that six minutes and fighting nonstop, getting my points and winning. And then as soon as the match ends I look around and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, cherish this moment, enjoy this moment, feel it.’ That’s how this day has gone.”
