PARIS — Amit Elor took a couple victory laps around the mat Tuesday night inside Champ de Mars Arena, skipping, leaping and flying the American flag draped around her back. 

Then the newly minted Olympic champion — the youngest in United States wrestling history — stopped, motioned to the coach who helped restore her love for the sport and brought her on stage for another pass around the circle. 

Twenty years ago, Sara McMann competed on international wrestling’s biggest stage in attempt to make USA wrestling history. It took a last-minute comeback by one of the sport’s greatest legends — Japan’s Kaori Icho — or McMann would’ve been the first American woman to win Olympic gold in women’s freestyle. 

Fast forward to 2024 and McMann was making a trip around the mat during the celebration of a historic Olympic gold medal, holding one side of the American flag while Elor held the other. 

“I know she’s had a lot of different struggles when it comes to wrestling with some of her ups and downs, so the fact that she persisted and I got to look back and see that quality of human as the person who carries the torch for the sport I love and the country I love,” McMann said, “I’m like a proud momma.” 

Elor stamped her name in the American wrestling history books with a 3-0 victory against Kyrgyzstan’s Meerim Zhumanazarova in the 68-kilogram gold medal bout. Elor outscored her four opponents in Paris by a combined 31-2 count. 

After her opening-round match, the 20-year-old California native shared some of the struggles she dealt with during her rise to American wrestling prodigy status. Even though she racked up six age-group World titles and Tuesday’s victory pushed her World and Olympic championship count to three on the Senior level, Elor revealed she’s battled confidence issues and had to regain her passion for wrestling. 

“My environment within wrestling — my practices, my training environment — it just became not enjoyable anymore,” she said. “There was so much negativity surrounding it. I was convinced that I was an awful wrestler, that I had no skills, that maybe I was strong, but that was my only attribute. So it took a lot mentally to not only believe in myself but to be like, ‘I am a good wrestler.’ And it’s been so hard for me to believe it because I’ve somehow convinced myself that I’m not a good wrestler, which is funny, I’m an Olympic champion. 

“But I’m a perfectionist, I’m hard on myself and that environment was not the best for me and it took a lot of bravery for me to make a change. And now I have such a wonderful support system and I’m breathing positivity and I’m really making sure I’m happy. I’m enjoying the process every single day because why else are we doing this if we’re just miserable? I think I just had that realization and that has contributed to me performing better than I was. I think you might’ve seen during the 2023 World finals when I won, that was really difficult for me. I was going through a lot during that time and I was disappointed in myself for not loving wrestling when I won.”

Elor said she needed to “heal” her relationship with wrestling. She credits McMann for playing a pivotal role in that process. 

“I’ve been through my highs and lows and I have to say Sara’s a big reason for me being successful today and for healing my relationship with wrestling and loving the journey and staying positive,” Elor said. “She’s been such a great influence on me.”

They formed a bond when they met last August on a trip to the U20 World Championships in Jordan. At the time, Elor was looking to add to her World title count and McMann was nearing the end of her mixed martial arts career and dipping a toe into coaching wrestling at a high level. 

“Honestly, she’s changed my relationship with wrestling and I’m really starting to love the sport again,” Elor said. “It’s been quite a journey and I’m just so lucky to have met her. We met at U20 Worlds in Jordan, where our whole team got sick with stomach flu and she helped me persevere and still wrestle even throughout the sickness.”

It was the start of an athlete-coach relationship. 

Now Elor trains at McMann’s gym in Sacramento, roughly an hour from Elor’s hometown of Walnut Creek. 

“(Coaching is) comparable to my own career — and I never really thought like that,” McMann said. “When I was younger, I didn’t feel like that about coaching. I very much had my own goals, so I just wasn’t ready for that. And at the right time (USA Wrestling) brought me back in and I was very ready to give back.”

McMann never thought it would lead to a matside seat for American wrestling history. 

Prior to Tuesday night, Kyle Snyder was the youngest Olympic champ in United States history. He was 20 years and nine months old when he won gold in Rio. Elor is 20 years and seven months old. 

“This is gonna sound crazy, but I feel like I have a little bit of imposter’s syndrome,” she said. “I still feel like that little kid that just started wrestling and now I’m an Olympic champion. I don’t believe those words I just said — it’s going to take a little bit of time.”