PARIS — Team USA’s most dominant athlete is a 150-pound rock of invincibility. She bounded onto a mat Monday for her Olympic debut, and even world champions seemed paralyzed by fear. They dallied in upright positions, reluctant to grapple with the woman who’d soon defeat them, terrified of American phenom Amit Elor.
Elor, 20, has never lost a senior international wrestling match. She is the back-to-back reigning world champion, and under-23 world champion, and under-20 world champion at 72 kilograms — one of four weight classes shunned by the Olympics. So, Elor dropped down to 68kg; unseeded at the new weight, she drew the division’s reigning world champ, Buse Tosun Çavuu015fou011flu from Turkey, in the very first Olympic round.