PARIS (NEXSTAR) — The most unusual day of Sarah Hildebrandt’s wrestling career ended with her earning an Olympic gold medal.
The American won the 50-kilogram women’s category on Wednesday, defeating Yusneylis Guzman Lopez of Cuba 3-0 in the championship match to become the fourth U.S. woman to win a gold medal.
“It’s a dream that’s been decades long that so many people have poured into,” Hildebrand said to Nexstar’s Matt Barnes after the victory.
For a while, she thought she wouldn’t even have a gold medal match.
Vinesh Phogat of India appeared to reach the finals of the 50-kilogram category after three wins on Tuesday. But United World Wrestling, the sport’s governing body, disqualified her after she barely missed weight on Wednesday morning.
Measures such as cutting Phogat’s hair weren’t enough to shed the necessary weight. Team India said Phogat was 100 grams — about a fifth of a pound — over the weight limit.
Hildebrandt originally thought she had won gold by forfeit. Instead, Guzman Lopez, who had lost to Phogat in a semifinal, was moved up from a bronze medal match.
“There was a lot of celebrating,” the 30-year-old Hildebrandt said. “It was very strange. ‘Oh my God, I just won the Olympics.’ And then an hour later, it was like, psych, you did not win the Olympics. I was like, ‘Oh, this is very weird.’ So there had to be a reset.”
Phogat, who stunned four-time world and defending Olympic champion Yui Susaki of Japan in the first of her three matches on Tuesday, would have been the first women’s wrestler from India to compete for a gold medal. Instead, she left empty-handed.
“As a big weight cutter myself, yeah, I feel for her,” Hildebrandt said. “She had an amazing day yesterday, did an insane feat and, you know, I don’t think she saw that happening, ending her Olympics like that. So for sure, my heart goes out to her. I think she’s an amazing competitor, an amazing wrestler and person.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
