Takedown Report

Amit Elor repeats as world wrestling champion at age 19 before Olympic shift

Amit Elor, who last year became the youngest American to win an Olympic or world wrestling title, repeated as world champion at 72kg on Thursday.

Elor, 19, won her four matches over the last two days by a combined 33-4, one year after outscoring opponents 27-2 in her senior worlds debut. She defeated Davaanasan Enkh Amar of Mongolia 8-2 in the final in Belgrade.

Elor, born Jan. 1, 2004, was one day too young to be eligible for the Tokyo Olympic Trials.

Since, she won two senior world titles, plus five junior world titles among U17, U20 and U23 divisions. Last year alone, she won U20 worlds in August, senior worlds in September and U23 worlds in October. She is two-thirds of the way to another U20, senior, U23 three-peat this year.

“It’s an opportunity that I can’t miss,” Elor, the youngest of six siblings born in California to parents from Israel, said of competing so much. “You’re only eligible for age-group world championships for so long. … Every time I go to world championships, any age group, I grow as a wrestler.”

If she makes the 2024 Olympic team, she is in line to become the youngest U.S. Olympic female wrestler in history, according to Olympedia.org.

But first, she must change weight classes as 72kg is not contested at the Olympics. She said Thursday that she is leaning to going down to 68kg rather than up to 76kg and will probably decide by January. … rest of story at … NBCsports.com/olympics/news/amit-elor-wrestling-world-championships

September 25, 2023 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized