Eli McKownDes Moines Register
Day 1 of Olympic Wrestling was everything and more than what was promised.
Last-second takedowns, gritty comebacks and some of wrestling's biggest icons and rising stars put on a show in Paris, including Team USA's very own Amit Elor. The 20-year old phenom is into the Gold Medal final at 68 kilograms following three-consecutive wins where she outscored her opponents 28-2 in freestyle competition.
Elor was one of two members of Team USA competing Monday, along with Adam Coon, who fell in the first round and has been eliminated in the Greco-Roman 130 kilogram class.
Catch up below on everything that happened on the opening day of wrestling in Paris, who will be wrestling for Gold on Tuesday and get to know Elor before she ends her first Olympic run:
Amit Elor advances to Gold Medal final
A snap-down into a takedown, followed by a four leg laces for a 10-0 technical fall is how Amit Elor got it done against North Korea's Sol Gum Pak, going to her first Gold medal Olympic final.
Elor has been elite with her positioning in this tournament so far and it showed here on that snap-down takedown to pick up a win in less than two minutes. At a minimum now, she has at least secured a Silver medal for Team USA at just 20-years old.
For Hawkeye fans, there's a bit of a rooting interest here as Elor's training partner that she brought to Paris is Macey Kilty, who recently committed to the Hawkeyes in July.
The two-time Senior World Champion looks well poised to pick up Gold if she comes out like that Tuesday afternoon. Her opponent will be Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan), a Bronze Medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Cuba's Mijain Lopez Nunez one match away from fifth Olympic Gold Medal
The 41-year old is not slowing down whatsoever, cruising to a win over Sabah Saleh Shariati (Azerbaijan) to reach the finals at heavyweight in the Greco-Roman division. After earning a passivity point and putting Shariati on bottom, he recorded a gut wrench to go up 3-0. After being dinged for passivity, he went on bottom and notched a reversal to secure a 4-1 victory.
For a guy at his size and his age to still be doing what he is doing, conceding just one point in three matches so far, is an unreal showing. He's one win against Yasmani Acosta Fernandez (Chile, formerly of Cuba) from continuing to add to a historic legacy.
Japan's Kenichiro Fumita and China's Cao Liguo to wrestle for gold medal on Tuesday
The men's Greco-Roman 60 kilogram gold medal match is set between Japan's Kenichiro Fumita and China's Cao Liguo.
Fumita, 2020 Olympic Silver Medalist, reached the final by upending Zholaman Sharshenbekov (Kyrgyzstan), who he lost to in the World Championship final the year prior. A four-point Greco throw of Sharshenbekov onto his back was enough to earn a 4-3 win for Fumita. Liguo trailed 3-1, but recorded a two-point takedown at the buzzer to advance on criteria of North Korea's Se Ung Ri (North Korea). Liguo was a World Bronze Medalist in 2023.
They will wrestle the finals between 11:15 and 3 p.m. CT Tuesday.
Semifinal matches set for Day 1 of wrestling at the Olympics
MGR 60 kilograms
- Se Ung Ri (North Korea) vs. Cao Liguo (China)
- Zholaman Sharshenbekov (Kyrgyzstan) vs. Kenichiro Fumita (Japan)
MGR 130 kilograms
- Mijain Lopez Nunez (Cuba) vs. Sabah Saleh Shariati (Azerbaijan)
- Lingzhe Meng (China) vs. Yasmani Acosta Fernandez (Chile)
WFS 68 kilograms
- Amit Elor (USA) vs. Sol Gum Pak (North Korea)
- Blessing Oborududu (Nigeria) vs. Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan)
Amit Elor advances to semifinals of 68-kilogram class for Team USA
Elor was dominant in the last round, but ramped it up to defeat Wiktoria Choluj of Poland and reach the semifinals of her class with a 8-0 victory.
Calcualted is probably the best way to describe Elor's second bout, standing stout and not allowing even a single shot from Choluj in this one. Each chance Elor took, she scored upon including a go-behind takedown in the first period, followed by a push-out point and an additional takedown before the end of the first period. She added one final takedown late in the second to secure the shutout.
Chants of "USA!" showered Elor as she stepped off the mat as she is now just two matches away from Gold.
Her opponent in the semifinal, which will begin at 2 p.m. CT, is North Korea's Sol Gum Pak. She is just 18-years old and is competing only in her second-ever international competition after she qualified at the Senior Asian Olympic Games qualifier. Pak defeated India's Nisha Nisha, who held an 8-0 lead but suffered what appeared to be a right-arm injury and could not hang onto the lead late. Pak also defeated World Champion Irina Ringaci of Moldova in the opening round.
Whatever happens between Elor and Pak, we'll have a 18 or 20-year competing for Gold Tuesday. How cool is that?
Adam Coon officially eliminated from Olympics
Team USA's 130 kilogram representative in Greco-Roman Adam Coon's Olympic hopes were dashed early with a loss in the first round to Amin Mirzazadeh (Iran). His only hope to compete for bronze was Mirzazadeh to defeat four-time Olympic Gold medalist Mijain Lopez Nunez (Cuba), but Mirzazadeh fell short, meaning Coon is no longer eligible to compete in the repechage.
Quarterfinals set from Day 1 Olympic Wrestling action thus far
WFS 68 kilograms
- Amit Elor (USA) vs. Wiktoria Choluj (Poland)
- Nisha Nisha (India) vs. Sol Gum Pak (North Korea)
- Koumba Larroque (France) vs. Blessing Oborududu (Nigeria)
- Nonoka Ozaki (Japan) vs. Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan)
MGR 60 kilograms
- Se Ung Ri (North Korea) vs. Islomjon Bakhramov (Uzbekistan)
- Raiber Joe Rodriguez Orozco (Venezuela) vs. Liguo Cao (China)
- Zholaman Sharshenbekov (Kyrgyz) vs. Razvan Arnaut (Romania)
- Mehdi Seifollah Mohsen Nejad (Iran) vs. Kenichiro Fumita (Japan)
MGR 130 kilograms
- Amin Mirzazadeh (Iran) vs. Mijain Lopez Nunez (Cuba)
- Sabah Saleh Shariati (Azerbaijan) vs. Alimkhan Syzdykov (Kazakhstan)
- Lingzhe Meng (China) vs. Mantas Knystautas (Lithuania)
- Yasmani Acosta Fernandez (Chile) vs. Abdellatif Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed (Egypt)
Amit Elor thrashes Turkey's Buse Cavusoglu (No. 1 seed) in first round
World Champion vs. World Champion from 2023 in the opening round to kick off the Olympics? Who wouldn't want that?
Well, Cavusoglu was probably not thrilled by drawing Elor as the one as the No. 1 seed in the weight class, and the result proved why. Elor rolled Cavusoglu by an 10-2 scoreline. After a pair of push-outs, Elor recorded a trio of takedowns and some passivity points as she throughly dominated the entirety of the match until conceding a takedown late in the second period. She was not only the aggressor in the match, but also was strong in evading Cavusoglu's few shots she did take.
Poland's Wiktoria Choluj defeated China's Feng Zhou by a scoreline of 10-3, nearly notching a pin late in the second period. She also had an impressive four-point throw by hoisting Zhou in the air from her thighs and onto her back to essentially seal the match. The 24-year old from Poland was a U23 World Silver Medalists in 2022.
If Elor keeps wrestling like that, she may roll here in Paris to Gold.
Adam Coon drops bout with No. 1 Amin Mirzazadeh of Iran
After getting dinged for a passivity point, Coon then conceded a gut wrench to trial 3-0 after the first period. While Mirzazadeh also was dinged for passivity in the second, Coon could not score on offense to make up the difference and lost 3-1 in the opening round.
For Coon to keep wrestling, Mirzazadeh will have to reach the Gold Medal final and he would then be in the repechage to fight for bronze.
Who is Amit Elor?
Elor is the 68-kilogram freestyle representative for Team USA. The 20-year-old is one of the sports' young phenoms as a two-time Senior World champion and the youngest American to ever win a World title, doing so in 2022 at 18-years old. In her career, she has won a Cadet World title, three Junior World titles and two U23 World titles along with her two Senior World titles.
Elor's ascension has been nothing short of rapid but has also been one of trials and tribulations. USA Today's Tom Schad profiled Elor's journey ahead of the Olympics, which you can read here.
Her top two most likely opponents in the semifinals, should she advance there, would be No. 4 seedIrina Ringaciof Moldova and No. 5 seedTetiana Sova Rizhkoof Ukraine. Ringaci is a multi-time age group World Medalist, including a U23 World title in 2023 and a Junior World title in 2021. However, she also has won a Senior World title (2021) and has taken bronze in the previous two cycles. Rizhko has wrestled at just one Senior World Championship and did not medal.
If Elor gets through the first round, the path to the gold medal final is very much in sight.
Who is Adam Coon?
Coon is the Greco-Roman 130-kilogram representative for Team USA. College wrestling fans may remember the name, as a three-time NCAA All-American and two-time NCAA finalist at heavyweight for Michigan from 2013-2018. Internationally, Coon was a Senior World silver medalist in 2018 and earned three more age-level World medals before that.
Coon was a four-time high school state champion in Michigan as well as being a high-profile football player at linebacker and offensive line for Fowlerville High School. Despite never playing football for the University of Michigan, he was signed by the Tennessee Titans in 2021, but returned to wrestling and made the Olympic team this cycle at 29 years old.
Coon could not have had a tougher draw if you tried, to say the least.
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him atEmckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at@EMcKown23
