First Amit Elor U.S. Gold-Medal Wrestler Bobblehead Unveiled

MCONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA (Oct. 4, 2024) — The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled the first bobblehead of 20-year-old Amit Elor, who became the youngest United States wrestler ever – male or female – to win an Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The special edition bobblehead is being produced exclusively by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum.

Standing on a base bearing her name, the smiling Amit Elor bobblehead is decked out in USA wrestling uniform with a replica gold medal around her neck holding a USA flag as she celebrates her performance at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. Each bobblehead is individually numbered to 2,024 and they are only available through the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum’s Online Store. The bobbleheads, which are expected to ship in February, are $30 each plus a flat-rate shipping charge of $8 per order.

A native of Walnut Creek, California, Amit’s parents, Elana and Yair Elor, came to the United States from Israel in 1980 to attend college. The youngest of six siblings, Amit, who started training at age four, isn’t the only wrestler in the family. Her sister, Ronny, and brother, Orry, both won USA Wrestling Junior National titles. Growing up, Amit traveled to Israel every summer to wrestle.

While attending College Park High School in Pleasant Hill, California, Amit won multiple tournaments. As a freshman, she went 36-0 and pinned her final opponent in 20 seconds to win the California Interscholastic Federation state championship. She was also the 2016 Novice USA Wrestling Girls Folkstyle Nationals champion and received the 2019 California High School Champion of Champions award.

Among her career highlights, Elor is a nine-time gold medalist at World Championship events across the U17, U20, U23, and Senior age divisions, which includes the freestyle and beach wrestling disciplines. She is a two-time Senior World Championships gold medalist and became the youngest Senior World champion in U.S. history, doing so at age 18 in 2022. In addition, she is a two-time U23 World Championships gold medalist, three-time U20 World Championships gold medalist, U17 World Championships and Beach World Championships gold medalist, two-time U17 World Championships medalist, two-time U.S. Senior World Team member, and Pan American Championships gold medalist.

In her Olympics debut in Paris, Elor achieved her ultimate dream of becoming an Olympic champion. Wrestling for the gold medal in the women’s freestyle 68-kilogram category (149.9 pounds), Elor defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Meerim Zhumanazarova, the 2020 Olympic bronze medalist and three-time age-group world medalist, 3-0. Elor had dominated in the 72kg class (158.73 pounds), but since 72kg is not an Olympic class, she either had to go up to 76kg (167.55 pounds), or down to 68kg. She chose to wrestle down. In the entire Olympic tournament, Elor only ceded two points in four bouts. Elor was one day too young to be eligible for the Olympic Trials for the 2020 Tokyo Games (she was born January 1st, 2004). Instead, she watched from home and saw Tamyra Mensah-Stock win the only gold medal for the U.S. women’s wrestling team in the 68kg weight class. It helped fuel her motivation to qualify for the 2024 Paris Games.

“We are excited to release this bobblehead of Olympic wrestler Amit Elor,” National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar said. “Making her Olympics debut in Paris, Amit did not disappoint in becoming the youngest U.S. wrestler ever to win a gold medal. We congratulate Amit and wish her continued success, including the Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028.”