Amit Elor, who became the youngest American to win a gold Olympic medal in the field of wrestling, continuing a five-year streak of being undefeated in any professional match, is part of a sports legacy family. All of her five siblings have played sports professionally, from wrestling to powerlifting to fencing, including her dad, Ilan Elor, born Ilan Mekler, who held an Israeli record in shotput for 34 years and was also an Israeli discus throwing champion.
Before she was born, Amit’s parents moved to the U.S. from Ashkelon, Israel for a better future. Her father got an athletic scholarship at Boise State University and moved to America in the 1980s, where her mother, Elana, also pursued her studies. If she had grown up in Ashkelon, hers would have been a childhood full of the booms of intercepted rockets and running to shelters; instead, she grew up in Walnut Creek, California, and since she was just 4, spent some of her happiest hours training at the gym and competing all across the U.S. (She’s also shared that she spent many summers wrestling in the Jewish state.)
While being an Olympic gold medalist is definitely the better bargain, Amit, whose unisex name means “friend” in Hebrew, does regret one thing that would have been a given had she grown up in Israel — never learning to speak her parents’ native tongue fluetly. So when a reporter for Israel’s Channel 5 asked the proudly Jewish and Israeli-American athlete to say a few words in Hebrew for her fans after her win, she apologized for her Hebrew not being so good. “Ani ohevet et kulchem,” she said in accented Hebrew, meaning, “I love all of you,” and then she explained: “When I was younger, I was stupid and I refused to speak Hebrew. And it sucks, because I think Hebrew is the most beautiful language ever. I don’t speak it but I want to learn.”
It’s definitely never too late to learn (though I may or may not have shown that clip to my own young Israeli-American kids in hopes of encouraging them to not have those same regrets). Amit ended the interview with a sweet “toda raba, layla tov” — meaning “thank you” and “goodnight.”
To be fair, just hearing her say these few Hebrew words is impossibly moving.
Olympic champion @AmitElor, the daughter of two American-Israelis in a message to Israelis after winning the gold medal in wrestling ✡️❤️ pic.twitter.com/VRsxzcrj7f
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) August 7, 2024
“I spoke only Hebrew until I went to kindergarten,” Elor once shared, adding that she understood how influential being Israeli and Jewish had been on her life only after she grew up. She used to feel uncomfortable sharing that she was Jewish, but now “it’s something that I’m proud of. I believe I wouldn’t be the person I am today without my Jewish background.”
“I represent the U.S. and Israel. I’m Israeli and American and it’s important to me, after what I saw on October 7, to inspire happiness in Israel. I know that if I represent Israel, it will make my parents happy, that they will be proud of me and that I will be proud of myself. Israel is my second home,” the athlete shared in an interview.
After her win, she took out a yellow hostage pin she couldn’t wear while competing and showed it to Israeli reporters. Still, Elor, who has quite a large following and presence on social media (yes, she shot a video with the famous Olympics cafeteria chocolate muffin!) has not been sharing overtly Jewish content there because of the amount of terrible comments — and even death threats — it often elicits, especially in the aftermath of October 7 and as the Israel-Hamas War rages on.
Elor’s first Olympic match was scheduled on a significant date for her family. August 5 was her father Yair’s birthday. But the athlete and doting dad passed away in 2022 while isolating with COVID at his California home. After he passed, Elor shared a message with him in Hebrew on her Instagram: “I love you, Aba, and you will always be in our heart. Thank you for what you’ve done for us. Rest in peace with no pain. Watch over Oshry for us.”
Oshry was Amit’s older brother, one of the six Elor siblings, and just like the rest of them he was a gifted athlete — a promising football player and wrestler. In 2018, he was killed during a home robbery at just 23 years old. His mother, Elana, described him as a “gentle giant,” and said that he was very close to his youngest sister.
“There is not a single day that goes by that I don’t think of these two,” Amit wrote on Instagram back in April, sharing a picture of her at the graves of Oshry and Yair at Gan Shalom Cemetery in California. “My dad was my biggest fan and I’m driven to make him proud in everything I do. My brother Oshry was the sweetest giant and an amazing big brother. He was an incredible football player and powerlifter, not to mention a great student. But when Oshry was 17, he went down the wrong path. Eventually he started selling marijuana and when he was 23, he was shot during a marijuana robbery in his own home. I was 14 at the time. I remember the shock, grief, and fear like it was yesterday. For months, I went almost everyday to attend Oshry’s murder trial. My family felt some closure with the verdict of life without parole.”
When Yair was interviewed by Yedioth Aharonoth back in 2009, he shared about his own dad, “My father survived two concentration camps during the Holocaust.” He added, “if he could’ve seen how [his grandchildren are] beating everyone and winning he would have been so proud.”
Amit’s brother Orry, himself an accomplished wrestler, and her mother Elana did get to hug her after her gold-medal win:
“She feels almost unreal to us, you know?” Elor’s mother, Elana, told USA Today this summer. “She’s amazing.”
We can’t help but agree! Mazel tov, Amit, on your incredible win.
