Wrestling at the 2024 Paris Olympics got underway on Monday with the opening rounds in three weight classes. Here's a look at what went down on the mat.
Team USA's Amit Elor dominates Olympic wrestling
Team USA's Amit Elor, the prodigious 68kg (149 lbs.) wrestler from California, won her Paris Olympic semifinal by technical superiority — 10-0 — against North Korea's Sum Pak in less than two minutes on Monday evening.
Elor is now guaranteed at least a silver medal at these Games. She'll fight for gold on Tuesday, Aug. 6.
The victory follows two other clinical smackdowns Elor performed earlier in the day. In her opening match, the 20-year-old dismantled top-seeded Buse Tosun of Turkiye. An hour and some change later, she swatted away Poland's Wiktoria Choluj in a lopsided quarterfinal.
Lopez one win away from fifth consecutive Olympic gold
Cuba's Mijain Lopez took no prisoners in men's Greco-Roman 130kg (286 lbs.). The four-time Olympic champion grappled his way through South Korea's Lee-Seung Chan, Azerbaijan's Amin Mirzazadeh, and Iran's Sabah Sharitia to claim a spot in the final.
Lopez will fight Chile's Yasmani Acosta on Tuesday at 1:32 p.m. ET for a fifth consecutive gold medal in the same event, a feat no Olympian — not even Michael Phelps — has accomplished.
China vs. Japan for 60kg Greco-Roman gold
The final weight class to set up a final bout for Tuesday: men's 60kg (132 lbs.) Greco-Roman.
Japan's Kenichiro Fumita — the Tokyo Olympics silver medalist in this weight category — earned himself another opportunity for Olympic gold after defeating Cuba's Kevin de Armas, Iran's Mehdi Mohsennejad, and two-time world champion Zholaman Sharshenbek of Kyrgyzstan.
On the opposite side of the bracket, China's Cao Liguo defeated Egypt's Moamen Mohamed, Venezuela's Raiber Rodriguez, and North Korea's Ri Se-ung in much tighter matches.
The two Asian wrestlers will compete for gold around 1:30 p.m. ET.
Keep your eyes glued to NBCOlympics.com for wrestling news, video, results, and schedules.