The USA enjoyed a highly successful year in several sports, with wrestling taking one of the top spots. The American national wrestling team brought glory to the stars and stripes in several international tournaments throughout the year, especially the world championships.

Although every wrestler played their part, USA Wrestling’s David Taylor and Amit Elor played pivotal roles in America’s rise in 2023. Interestingly, a social media post reflected the same as both famed wrestlers got shortlisted for the most prestigious annual award. 

David Taylor and Amit Elor set for a Christmas gift?

USA Wrestling posted a tweet on its official X account, announcing some good news. The tweet carried the caption, “Men’s freestyle World champion @magicman_psu & women’s freestyle World champion @AmitElor are nominees for UWW Wrestler of the Year in their discipline. Fans can vote for our athletes on UWW Instagram.”

If both these wrestlers win the Wrestler of the Year Award, it will be nothing short of the perfect Christmas present for the US. David Taylor won his third World Championship medal this year against perennial rival Hassan Yazdani. This took his head-to-head score against the Iranian to 4-1 in the men’s 86kg freestyle category.

While David Taylor bagged just one world championship, Amit Elor hit a legendary threepeat of world championships. The 72kg wrestler claimed the World Wrestling Championship, Junior World Championship, and the U-23 World Championship as well. In fact, she single-handedly raised the bar for both men’s and women’s wrestling, despite being just 19 years old.

The dominance of Amit Elor in global wrestling

Amit Elor entered all the world championships throughout the year as the defending champion of 2022. While her first international medal was a bronze at the 2019 World Cadet Championship, she cashes nothing but gold now. In fact, Elor already has eight world championship gold medals in her bag.

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Amit Elor and David Taylor now stand the chance of winning the prestigious Wrestler of the Year Award. While most people vote for the representatives of their own country, Taylor and Elor stand amongst a list of selected champs of 2023. Recently, US track superstar Noah Lyles also won the Athlete of the Year Award after receiving the highest votes from around the world. It remains to be seen if Elor and Taylor can once again bring glory to the US in the form of the honors. 

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