Who is Amit Elor? All about the 20-year-old American wrestler competing at Paris Olympics after overcoming loss of two family members

By Janhavi Shinde

Modified Aug 05, 2024 11:03 GMT

Amit Elor is an American wrestler who is set to represent Team USA at the ongoing 2024 Paris Olympics. She will compete in the women's 68kg freestyle wrestling.

Elor secured two consecutive gold medals at the World Championships in the 72kg women's wrestling in 2022 and 2023. The American wrestler also won gold in the 72kg category at the 2023 Pan American Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has been a three-time junior world champion and twice an under-23 world champion.

Although Elor's career now appears illustrious and filled with victories, everything hasn't been smooth sailing for the 20-year-old. In 2018, she had to suffer the loss of her brother. Her older brother Orry was murdered at his house during a robbery attempt.

While she was still coping with the grief, her father Yair Elor passed away unexpectedly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, in April 2022. Despite these personal tragedies, she went on to bag her first senior world title five months later.

Amit Elor's childhood

Elor was born to Israeli parents Elana and Yair on January 1, 2004, in Walnut Creek, California. She started wrestling when she was four years old, a passion she developed while watching her brother Orry training in the Bay Area.

Although her mother made efforts to push her into swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, and cheerleading, Elor was inclined toward wrestling, locking horns with only boys until she turned 10. Speaking only Hebrew, she was raised in Walut and attended the local JCC preschool in Contra Costa County.

Amit Elor's Family

Elor's father immigrated from Israel to the United States in 1980 after he received an athletic scholarship for shot put and discus throw from Boise State University. Her older siblings, Orry and sister Ronny, both secured USA Wrestling Junior National titles.

Elor is Jewish and her grandfathers and great-grandmothers were Holocaust survivors.

Amit Elor will be the youngest female wrestler ever to represent the USA at the Olympics

Amit Elor at the 2023 Wrestling Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia [Source: Getty]

Among some veterans, including Sarah Hildebrandt and Helen Maroulis, Elor will be the youngest member of the wrestling team representing the USA at the Paris Olympics.

She will also become the youngest female wrestler ever to represent Team USA at the Olympics. Poised as the favorite to clinch the gold medal, Elor will begin her Olympic campaign on August 5, 2024.