Team USA is going strong, leading the Paris Olympics scoreboard as a result of the culminated efforts that their athletes have put in. Amit Elor is joining the rest of her teammates in trying her best to win gold for her country. The female wrestler in the 68kg weight class will proceed to the finals tonight in Champ-de-Mars.

While the competition is certainly tough, Elor seems to have an edge over her opponent, given how she used to wrestle against boys when she was younger. The road to the Olympics wasn’t easy for the 20-year-old athlete and she’s had to undergo a catharsis, but everything has led her to this defining moment. How exactly did her sojourn shape her to become the iron clad wrestler and woman she is now?

Amit Elor had a tough road to go through

The young wrestler used to compete in the 72kg weight class. However, this was one of the four weight classes that the Olympics had shunned, forcing her to switch to 68kgs instead. The unwavering athlete has been this way ever since she started training for the sport as her younger self. And her younger self involved competing with heavier and burlier boys, out of all people, and this did a number on the young, impressionable mind of Elor.

“Once she started beating up the boys, there were a lot of coaches that didn’t like it,” Elor’s mother told USA Today. In an interview with Yahoo Sports, the American athlete said, “I’ve always believed that I was not good at wrestling. Even after my accomplishments, I was always very negative with myself.”

The criticisms that Elor must have endured during her early years in wrestling affected her self-image pertaining to the sport that she was pursuing. Since not everyone functions the same way, it took some effort to overcome the setbacks of the negative narrative that Amit had created for herself in her head. She went on to prove all of her prior coaches wrong and reclaimed her moral high ground. She won, and she won some more, the only viable way to shut all her naysayers down and that she did. With a flourish. “It’s taken a lot of healing, and a lot of support, for me to start to believe in myself and my abilities, and to think of myself as a good wrestler,” confessed the wrestler as she moves on to her final match at the Paris Olympics.

Amit Elor helps Team USA carry forward the legacy

Tamyra Mensah-Stock made her Olympics debut during the Tokyo Olympics Summer Games in 2021. She contributed to bringing a gold medal home in the 68kg freestyle wrestling back then. Tamyra defeated Nigeria’s Blessing Oborududu to achieve that medal. And now, Amit Elor seems to be pulling off a similar feat for Team USA this year. Even though the previous Olympics champion wasn’t able to retain her championship, it looks like the 20-year-old is on the right track.

Amit Elor defeated Sol Gym Pak of Korea during the Semifinals to advance into the finals of the weight class. Sports fans will now see her face off against Meerim Zhumanazarova from Kyrgyzstan. Only one out of the two will descend the mat as the gold medalist. If Team USA is able to bag this victory, Elor will become the youngest American to win gold in wrestling at the Olympics. This will help her contribute to the legacy that Tamyra established a few years ago.

Are you ready to see Amit Elor score gold for Team USA? Let us know your thoughts below.