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Amit Elor (/əˈmiːt iːˈlɔːr/ ə-MEET ee-LOR; born January 1, 2004)[6] is an American freestyle wrestler who has claimed Olympic (2024) and world gold medals. She competes at 68 kilograms (150 pounds). She has won eight world championships, and has been a cadet, junior, and senior world champion. She won the senior world championships in both 2022 and 2023. Going into the 2024 Olympics, she had not lost an international match, in any age group, since 2019, as she compiled a 37-0 record and outscored her opponents by a margin of 322-16.
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | January 1, 2004[1] Walnut Creek, California, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Diablo Valley College | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years active | 2019–present | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (170 cm)[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Amateur wrestling | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight class | 68 kg (150 pounds) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event | Freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | New York City Regional Training Center[3] New York Athletic Club Al Wahda Club Jiu-Jitsu Academy[4] Titan Mercury Wrestling Club[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Valentin Kalika (head coach) Terry Steiner (women's coach for USA Wrestling) Sara McMann[5] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World finals | 2x world champion (2022, 2023) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest world ranking | No. 1[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Elor won the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in Women's freestyle wrestling 68 kg at the Grand Palais Éphémère. At 20 years old, she became the youngest United States wrestler ever, male or female, to win an Olympic gold medal.
Elor was born in Walnut Creek, California, to Israeli parents Elana and Yair Elor, originally from Ashkelon. [7][8] Her parents moved to the United States in 1980 to attend university. Her father, a shot putter and discus thrower, had received an athletic scholarship from Boise State University.[5][8][9][10]
She is the youngest of six siblings. Her sister Ronny and brother Orry both won USA Wrestling Junior National titles (Orry also came in fourth in the 2016 US Greco-Roman Olympic trials). Her brother Oshry was murdered at home at age 23 during an attempted robbery in 2018.[11] Her father Yair died in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] Both of her grandfathers and her great-grandmother were Holocaust survivors.[7] The rest of the family lives in Israel.[7]
Elor grew up in Walnut Creek.[8] She only spoke Hebrew until she attended the local JCC preschool in Contra Costa County.[8] She attended College Park High School in Pleasant Hill, California, graduating in 2022.[8][7] She attends Diablo Valley College, studying statistics, applied math, and psychology.[7][2]
Elor has trained in wrestling almost her whole life, having started at age four.[7] As she was growing up, she traveled to Israel every summer to wrestle.[12] She was a skilled judoka at a young age, representing the United States in the female INTL Intermediate division at +43kg in 2013, aged nine.[13]
Collegiate style
During her high school years, Elor won multiple high school tournaments.[14][15] In her freshman year, she was 36-0 and pinned her final opponent in 20 seconds to win a California Interscholastic Federation state championship.[12] She received the 2019 California High School Champion of Champions award.[2] She was the 2016 Novice USA Wrestling Girls Folkstyle Nationals champion.[2]
Freestyle
Early years
After meeting Ukrainian/Israeli coach Valentin Kalika, Elor started training in freestyle wrestling.[10] When she was a child, her mother recalls, "once she started beating up the boys, there were a lot of coaches that didn’t like it. They would tell her, 'Go easy on the boys.'"[16]
She won the junior worlds twice. She has won eight world championships, including cadet, junior, and senior world championships.[17][5]
In 2019, she won the gold medal in the Cadet (U17) Beach World Championships in Odessa, Ukraine.[2] In 2021, Elor won gold medals in the Junior (U20) World Wrestling Championships in Ufa, Russia, and the Cadet (U17) World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.[2] Because she had been born on January 1, 2004, she missed the age cutoff to qualify to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Games by one day.[18]
2022–present
In September 2022, Elor became the youngest World Champion in American wrestling history, after winning the world title in the 2022 World Wrestling Championships Belgrade, Serbia, at 18 years old.[19][20] She defeated Zhamila Bakbergenova of Kazakhstan in her gold medal match.[21] A month later, she won the gold medal in the 72 kg event at the 2022 U23 World Wrestling Championships held in Pontevedra, Spain.[22] She also won the gold medal in the U20 World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.[2]
In 2023, she won the gold medals in the Senior World Wrestling Championships (for the second year in a row) in Belgrade, Serbia, the U23 World Wrestling Championships in Tirana, Albania, and the U20 World Junior Wrestling Championships in Amman, Jordan.[2][7] Elor also won the gold medal in her event at the 2023 Pan American Wrestling Championships held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.[23] That year she was named the Women's Wrestler of the Year by USA Wrestling for the second consecutive year.[24]
In 2024, at the Pan American Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament held in Acapulco, Mexico, Elor earned a quota place for the United States for the 2024 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France.[25][26] She qualified for the Olympics at the 2024 United States Olympic trials held in State College, Pennsylvania.[27]
Going into the 2024 Olympics, she had not lost an international match, in any age group, since 2019. She had won eight world titles in three years. And she had compiled a 37-0 record, outscoring her opponents by a margin of 322-16.[27][16]
2024 Paris Olympics
Elor won the gold medal for the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in Women's freestyle wrestling 68 kg at the Grand Palais Éphémère in Champ de Mars. At 20 years of age, she was the youngest female wrestler ever to represent the United States at the Olympics.[7] She had dropped down from the weight class at which she typically competed, 72 kg, because it was not offered on the Olympic program.[18] She said: "I am very concerned about hostility Israeli athletes may receive this summer. Particularly after what happened in the 1972 Munich Olympics, the horrifying attack on October 7, the ongoing war in Israel, and the antisemitism rising all over the world. Israel means a lot to me. It’s my parents’ home and therefore it’s my home, too.[8] She said as well:
I was shocked by the October 7 brutal Hamas attack and deeply saddened and concerned about everything that followed. The enormous pain, suffering, and loss is unbearable. If my wrestling at the Olympics can bring even just a little joy in Israel, it will make all the hard work and sacrifices worth it and extra special. I am an American proudly wrestling for the U.S., but in my heart, I am also wrestling for Israel.[28]
She defeated 2023 reigning world champion Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu of Turkey in the first round (10-2), three-time European U23 champion Wiktoria Chołuj of Poland in the second round (8-0), Pak Sol-gum of North Korea in the semi-finals (10-0), and 2021 world champion Meerim Zhumanazarova of Kyrgyzstan in the finals (3-0).[29][18] She became the youngest United States wrestler ever, male or female, to win an Olympic gold medal.[18] She also extended her five-year undefeated streak.[30]
After Elor won her Olympic gold medal, she received antisemitic comments on social media, including one comment "And you belong in the gas chamber". In response she posted a video in which she wore a yellow ribbon pin, symbolizing support for the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. She said: "Eighty years ago my grandparents survived the Holocaust, but antisemitism is still all around us. My grandparents won. I won. Humanity will win. Never again."[30][31]
- Freestyle wrestling:
- 2019 Cadet World Championships – 3rd (69 kg)
- 2021 Cadet World Championships – 1st (69 kg)
- 2021 Junior World Championships – 1st (68 kg)
- 2022, 2023 Junior World Championships – 1st (72 kg)
- 2022 Zouhaier Sghaier Ranking Series – 8th (72 kg)[32]
- 2022, 2023 Senior World Championships – 1st (72 kg)
- 2022, 2023 U23 World Championships – 1st (72 kg)
- 2022 World Cup – 4th (72 kg)
- 2023 Pan American Championships – 1st (72 kg)
- 2024 Summer Olympics – 1st (68 kg)
- Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (she has also been a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner):
Amit is a dog lover and likes to cook[13] She used to date Micael Galvão.[35]
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