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Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hildebrandt weighs in on competing in WWE like former wrestlers Kurt Angle and Gable Steveson
American freestyle wrestler Sarah Hildebrandt recently shared her thoughts on her plans of transitioning to professional wrestling and competing in WWE. The 30-year-old recently clinched her maiden Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Hildebrandt accomplished this feat in the women’s 50kg freestyle where she defeated Cuba’s Yusneylys Guzman in the gold-medal bout by 3-0. With this, Sarah Hildebrandt also became only the fourth female American wrestler to claim the top podium finish in the Summer Games’ history.
After becoming the Olympic gold medalist in the 50kg weight division, the Indiana-born wrestler recently featured on Justin Basch’s podcast where was questioned on her plans to transition to professional wrestling and WWE after a successful amateur career. To which, Sarah Hildebrandt responded by confirming that she had no intentions of pursuing the path.
“No. No plans, sorry,” she said (starting 55:24 onwards).
Although Hildebrandt made it clear that she wasn’t considering a transition, Kurt Angle and Gable Steveson are some wrestlers who turned to professional wrestling following gold-medal wins at the Summer Olympics.
Angle, who won gold in men’s freestyle wrestling (100kg) at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and has now retired from professional wrestling, went on to join WWE, where he captured the Intercontinental Championship, the 2000 King of the Ring title, and four WWE Championship titles, making him one of the greatest wrestlers to grace the sport.
Meanwhile, Gable Steveson made headlines after clinching the gold medal in the men’s freestyle 125kg weight class at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in 2021. Following this, he then chose to embark on a professional wrestling career by signing with WWE.
However, after appearing at SummerSlam and WrestleMania and making his in-ring TV debut at The Great American Bash in 2023, Steveson was released by WWE on May 4, 2024.
A look into Sarah Hildebrandt’s achievements beyond gold at the Paris Olympics
In addition to her gold medal-winning campaign in Paris, Sarah Hildebrandt captured her first Olympic medal after defeating Ukraine’s Oksana Livach in one of the bronze medal matches in the women’s 50kg category at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
At the World Wrestling Championships, Hildebrandt earned four medals - two silver medals, in the 53kg in 2018 and the 50kg in 2021, and two bronze in 2022 and 2023, both in the 50kg freestyle category.
Additionally, Hildebrandt is one of the most dominant wrestlers at the Pan American Championships, having won seven gold medals. At the 2019 Pan American Games, she also won gold in the women’s freestyle 53kg.
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