Amit Elor is the Youngest American Olympic Gold Medalist in Wrestling

Winning the Olympic Games is incredibly difficult. Whether you’re young or old or right in the middle of your prime, all the stars need to align for that one special moment. For most, the Olympics are a pipe dream or an unattainable goal. 

For Amit Elor, it just seems right. Winning a gold medal felt inevitable. That’s odd to say for someone who just became the youngest American wrestler to ever have Olympic gold draped around their neck. What’s even more unusual is that she might have been able to accomplish the feat three years ago at the postponed Olympic Games. The hurdle in 2021 wasn’t an unstoppable opponent or nerves or an inability to make the team. Her roadblock was a calendar. Elor wasn’t able to wrestle on the Senior level because she was too young. Born on January 1st, 2004, Elor was a day too young to participate in the Trials process. 

For most the whole “being good enough to make the Olympic team” is the stopping point. Not being too young. If Elor sulked or complained about the rule, she didn’t do it publicly and she didn’t do it for long. Instead, she just went out and won world titles. And she hasn’t stopped since. In 2021, Elor captured gold at the U17 and U20 World Championships. 

A year later, as she aged out of the U17 division, Elor became the first American to win world titles in three age groups - adding titles at the U23 and Senior divisions. She replicated that trifecta in 2023. 

All of that set the stage for 2024 and the Olympic Games. Elor’s six world titles, over the last two years, have come at a non-Olympic weight (72 kg), so she dropped down to 68 kg for the qualification process earlier in 2024. 

On Tuesday afternoon (or evening in Paris, France), Elor captured the final piece of the puzzle, an Olympic gold medal. Incredibly enough, as a 20-year-old, an Olympic gold medal was the only significant wrestling prize that was not already in Elor’s possession prior to this week. 

While Elor has shown the ability to bulldoze opponents, as she did in the semifinals against North Korea’s Sol Gum Pak, racking up a 10-0 tech fall in less than two minutes - this time it was a methodical, systematic dismantling. 

Kyrgyzstan’s Meerim Zhumanazarova came into the Olympic finals red-hot. She had taken out a trio of opponents that included an Olympic silver medalist, a two-time world champion, and a world finalist. Surely, she’d present a problem for Elor, right? 

The final score read 3-0, which may lead you to believe that it was a nailbiter, but in reality, Zhumanazarova really never stood a chance. Elor was too fundamentally sound in every position and controlled the ties, the pacing, and the positioning of her opponent for the vast majority of the six minutes. 

In the opening period, Zhumanazarova was put on the shot clock which led to the only scoring sequence of the gold medal bout. That led to a desperate shot attempt which Elor easily blocked and eventually scored a takedown from. Add in a point for a shot-clock violation and she led, 3-0. But it felt like 30-0. 

Most of the second period was spent with Elor posted up in the middle of the mat digging an underhook and/or pushing Zhumanazarova’s head down. None of which were conducive to Zhumanazarova setting up an attack, much less scoring. 

Once the final whistle sounded and her arm was raised by the official, Elor stood in the middle of the mat looking around the arena. For a change, she looked unsure of what to do. Elor had just become the third American woman to win an Olympic gold medal. 

For a 20-year-old who has won everything there is to win, her greatest opponent may not wear a singlet, her greatest opponent may be the record book itself.