When 20-year-old Diablo Valley College student Amit Elor captured gold in women’s freestyle wrestling at the Summer Olympics in Paris last month, she became the youngest wrestler ever to win gold for the United States.

And she did it in dominating fashion.

After defeating the 2023 world champion, Turkish wrestler Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu, in the 68 kilogram weight class, Elor proceeded to win her next three matches without conceding a single point to her opponents—including a 3-0 win over Meerim Zhumanazarova of Kyrgyzstan in the gold medal match.   

But winning at the highest stages is nothing new for Elor, who has taken eight gold medals at world championships in different age divisions, stunning coaches and observers along the way. 

“She is the best wrestler that I have ever seen,” said Mike Wilhelm, who coached Elor during her freshman year at College Park High School.

A Walnut Creek native, Elor is currently taking online classes at DVC with plans to transfer to a four-year university, where she said she hopes to pursue her interest in psychology and applied math and statistics. 

Prior to DVC, Elor, who has been wrestling since she was four years old, only wrestled for one year at College Park before going on to train internationally against high-level adult wrestlers, according to Jim Keck, who was the high school’s athletic director at the time. 

As a freshman in 2019, Elor won the state championship in women’s wrestling and was awarded the Champion of Champions Award for California high schools. 

During that same year, she won her final four state matches so decisively that the time spent in those matches didn’t add up to the average duration of a single match, according to Arman Ostadsharif, another one of her high school coaches. 

“We all kind of said it: this girl is going to be an Olympic wrestler,” said Ostadsharif in an interview with The Inquirer. “She is the complete package.”

“Her work ethic is unparalleled. She knows who she is and what she has, but doesn’t let that get to her head.”

Keck agreed, noting Elor’s outstanding talent and her instincts as a competitor so early in her career.

“She does not make mistakes, and [she] keeps things simple,” said Keck. Beyond that, “she surrounds herself with people who will make her better.”

A case in point, in her freshman year of high school, Elor’s wrestling partner was a junior male wrestler who played varsity football and outweighed her by 15 pounds. Yet throughout the year, he was only able to score a single takedown on her.

Wilhelm, who usually yells encouragement and advice to his wrestlers on the mat, said he would just sit back and watch as Elor won her matches with ease. 

“I remember saying at one point during the season that she was going to win a gold medal,” said Wilhelm.

Despite her standout skills and success, her coaches said Elor was constantly working to improve herself, and was also known as a consistent team player, considerate of the needs of others.

Amid multiple practices a day, they recalled, Elor still made time to help out other wrestlers on the team—and even taught her coaches a few new things, according to Wilhelm.

“[She] is as humble as they come,” said Ostadsharif. 

Wilhelm and Ostadsharif also coached Elor’s older siblings, who they said not only helped Elor become an amazing wrestler, but a great person as well.

Her family was deeply involved in wrestling, Keck said, and supported her in every step along the way. He recalled that Elor’s brother was an especially big factor, helping her make a plan to get down to an Olympic weight class lower than where Elor normally wrestled at.

Elor is “bigger, stronger, faster” than her opponents, according to Ostadsharif, and is very disciplined about sticking to her gameplan.

Her fundamental approach at the highest level, combined with her elite “gas tank,” allows her to wear down her opponents throughout her matches, he said.  

“The most fun thing about watching Amit wrestle was how dominant she is,” said Ostadsharif. “She seems to be better than everyone she wrestles.”

This article was updated on Sept. 24. Elor won eight gold medals at world championships, not nine.