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Bay Area native Amit Elor made history on Aug. 5 when she became the youngest-ever wrestler on Team USA to win Olympic gold. Elor, 20, hadn’t lost a match in five years and was already a two-time world champion, but competing and winning in the 2024 Paris Games was a dream come true. 

She returned home in mid-August to Walnut Creek, where she lives with her family, including her biggest supporter, mom Elana Elor, who could be seen in the Paris stands cheering on her daughter. Elor’s parents came to the U.S. from Israel in 1980; her father, Yair, died unexpectedly in 2022. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

J.: We’re talking on Aug. 28. It’s been over three weeks since you became an Olympic gold medal champion. Do you feel like you’ve come down off the high yet? 

Amit Elor: It’s strange, when I’ve won world championships, I’ve always felt that high that people talk about, but with this, it just feels different. It feels like I’m complete, like I’m truly just so happy and content with everything.

How long were you in Paris? Did you get any time to enjoy it?

I arrived toward the end of July, and I left Aug. 12. I got very sick on the flight to Paris, I had a fever, weakness, things like that. It was still about a week and a half before competition, enough time to recover and get healthy and be able to participate in opening ceremonies. I did that, and it was wonderful. And then I felt good, like all the stars aligned. 

Can I ask what the famous Olympic village was like?

The village was unreal. Everywhere you go, people are asking to trade pins, asking what sport you do, what country you’re from. There are little coffee stands, places where you can get ice cream, croissants, chocolate muffins. There was a nail salon, a spa, a full-on gym, everything you could have wanted as an athlete was there. My only complaint was the quality of the rooms and the beds.

What was wrong with the beds?

The base of the beds was made from cardboard, and the bed itself was really hard. It was like sleeping on a wrestling mat. It was not great, especially for Olympic athletes. Most of the Americans, including me, stayed at a hotel for most of the time. Also the village isn’t the best place to be if you’re competing later. When all of the athletes around you have finished, they’re partying and having fun, and you’re trying to mentally prepare and not get distracted.

See anyone famous or semi-famous?

I saw a lot of them from afar, but I didn’t want to bother them. It’s hilarious how we’re all Olympic athletes, but there are these celebrity Olympic athletes, and so the other athletes are just fanning over the celebrity ones, and they’re all pushing and shoving and trying to get a picture. During opening ceremonies I did get a picture with Steph Curry. I also really love Ilona Maher, she’s on the USA rugby team, so I got to meet her and take a picture with her.

Did you interact with any Israeli athletes?

Post-competition, I went to this amaaazing lunch at an amaaaazing Israeli restaurant in Paris with some of the Israeli Olympic team. About 10 of us, super small, intimate. We talked about me possibly visiting Israel in the future, being some sort of ambassador, maybe running some wrestling clinics. Especially with my parents immigrating from Israel, it’s like a home away from home. Leading up to the competition and during competition, I was shocked by how much support I was receiving from Israel. 

How much did your Jewish and Israeli background factor into your overall experience?

Publicly and on social media, I’ve always been really careful leading up to any international competition. So I waited, and then after competing I was interviewed by a lot of Israeli media, and I absolutely loved that. 

After the Olympics, I started to get a lot more hate and threatening messages than I have in the past. Just really horrible messages, like you belong in the gas chambers, Hitler was right. It’s disturbing. Since then I’ve been more cautious about how much I read online. I’m still extremely active, but I’m very specific with my time and what I read.

Was your family in Paris the entire time? 

My mom and my older brother Orry, who goes to school at UCSF, were there with me the whole time. My other brother and his fiance and my strengths coach and his wife came just a day or two before competition to be there in person and support me; my uncle and my cousins from Israel also flew to Paris just for the competition. They all got tickets way before. They were already planning to come before I even made the Olympic team. Just made me crazy! I was like, guys, you don’t even know yet. Let me make the team! But it just goes to show how much they believed in me.

I have to admit I had never watched wrestling before I watched you. I  found it riveting. It was not what I thought. It seems like a lot of the sport is not just physical but also a mind game. Is that true?

Oh yeah, very much so. Once you reach the highest level of wrestling, everybody is strong, everybody is fast, everybody knows wrestling technique. And that’s where little things like your game plan and your choices — when to attack and what positions to be in — it all matters at that level. It’s not necessarily the strongest people or the fastest that win, but the ones who have a combination of everything — mental strength, physical strength, game plan, it all comes together. And it’s definitely a lot harder than it looks. Sometimes you can be doing really well, and if you even let your guard down for an instant, the match can be over. 

What is it called when you roll the person over?

That’s called a leg lace.

How do you get to that point? I’m watching someone who’s clearly at an Olympic level, and you’re just rolling her over and over.

When you take somebody down to the ground and you’re no longer on your feet, it turns into “par terre” wrestling. Normally the referee allows 15 to 20 seconds before they tell you to get up and continue on your feet. But in par terre, you have the opportunity to either turn the person, or pin the person. If you’re able to turn their hips past 90 degrees, you get two points. It’s a really efficient way to get a lot of points. For me, it’s been just years and years of practicing how to get a really tight lock, because if I can do that, then the match is over. So once I get that lock, I just tell myself: Don’t stop. Don’t stop. 

Oh my God, this is so cool, I’m getting lessons on freestyle wrestling from the gold medalist. So now that you’re back home, how are things changing for you? Are you getting a lot of calls and offers?

My messages have been flooded with all sorts of crazy opportunities I didn’t expect, everything from local to national. The city of Walnut Creek — they’re trying to organize some sort of celebration for me and my strengths coach here. My previous high school was trying to organize something. My gym is trying to organize something. I even received a message from a local animal shelter that they would like me to visit and name a litter of puppies. 

Everywhere I go in the area, people have recognized me. It’s so new and exciting and crazy, and it just makes me so happy. I think the No. 1 thing people have been telling me is that I’m an inspiration for the next generation of girls wrestling, and that makes me really happy. I’ve grown up really struggling in the sport, and it’s amazing to see how things are changing.