King University alumna Sarah Hildebrandt wins Olympic wrestling gold

Sarah Hildebrandt's journey through her 50kg bracket at the 2024 Paris Olympics was golden. 

A 2015 King University graduate, Hildebrandt came to Paris with a long list of accolades. She was a four-time WCWA national finalist and a two-time WCWA champion in college as well as a two-time world bronze medalist, a two-time world silver medalist and a 2020/21 Olympic bronze medalist. She was a staple on Team USA and one of the savviest wrestlers internationally. On Wednesday, Aug. 7, she added Olympic champion to her resume following four dominant performances and a little bit of chaos. 

COLLEGE WRESTLING: Here's the complete list of Team USA wrestlers with collegiate affiliations

Hildebrandt came into the tournament seeded sixth, meaning that she would face one of the eight unseeded athletes in the first round. She ultimately drew Ibtissem Doudou of Algeria, a wrestler she dominated by technical superiority 10-0. Hildebrandt then battled Ziqi Feng of China to a 7-4 win after a strategic, gritty second period.

Her next 5-0 win in the semifinals against Otgonjargal Dolgorjav of Mongolia secured Hildebrandt a medal and ensured that she would earn her highest Olympic finish ever. 

But this is where the drama began. 

Hildebrandt was expected to wrestle Vinesh Phogat of India in the finals after Phogat upset Yui Susaki, the reigning Olympic champion, in the first round of the bracket. 

Phogat, though, failed to make weight on the second day of the tournament and was thus disqualified.

In college wrestling, if a wrestler forfeits a match in the finals, the opposing wrestler who makes weight and takes the mat earns the win. This exact scenario played out in the 2022 men's Big Ten championships, with two wrestlers forfeiting out of the finals, giving their opponent a default win.

In international wrestling, however, the athlete who lost to the forfeiting wrestler in the most recent match is drawn in.

Here's the complete language from the : 

"The morning of the second day of the concerned weight category, the qualified athletes for the repechages and finals will be weigh-in again. The wrestlers who does not attend or fail the weigh-in on the second day will be eliminated and ranked last, without rank, except for the injured athlete(s) on the first day (cf. Article 56 – Medical Service Intervention). If one (or more) athlete qualified for the repechages and/or finals doesn’t attend or fails the weigh-in, the athlete(s) (who successfully passed the second weigh-in) will move to the next round in his(their) part of the bracket.* *If all athletes don’t attend or fail the second weigh-in, the ranking will be made according the individual ranking criteria (Cf. Article 8)."

This meant that Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who was originally set to wrestle for bronze, would be pulled in to wrestle Hildebrandt for gold. 

Vinesh Phogat, who beat Lopez, would not earn a medal. 

Despite the change in opponent, Hildebrandt remained unfazed. She later told the media that she thought she would receive a forfeit and automatically win gold after Phogat's forfeit, but she pivoted when she learned that she would still have to wrestle off for the top prize. 

In her final match, on the biggest stage, after the wildly dramatic change in the bracket, Hildebrandt did what champions do — she stayed calm, wrestled a smart match at her pace, and took the win 3-0 after a takedown and a penalty point.

Oh my gosh I just won the FREAKING OLYMPICS hahahahah DUUUUDE

— Sarah Hildebrandt (@sarhilde)

Her win made her the second American women's wrestling Olympic champion of these Games following teammate Amit Elor's victory at 68kg earlier this week. She's also just the fourth woman to win gold for Team USA in history, joining Simon Fraser alum Helen Maroulis and Wayland Baptist alum Tamyra Mensah-Stock, who won gold in 2016 and 2020, respectively.