Paris Olympics: Who is Vinesh Phogat’s gold-medal challenger Sarah Hildebrandt who makes flash cards to study her opponents | Paris Olympics 2024 News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: It won’t be wrong to analyse that Vinesh Phogat wrestled the final first before reaching the gold-medal match in the women’s 50kg division at the Paris Olympics. Beating Yui Susaki, who had won nothing but gold in her 82-0 unbeaten international career until Tuesday, including the Tokyo Olympics gold, in the pre-quarterfinals was like a reverse draw for Vinesh.
Both Vinesh and Susaki were in disbelief after the final whistle. Vinesh, thumping the mat and then laying flat with tears in her eyes, was perhaps amazed how the almighty scripted her story — from the career-threatening injury at Rio 2016, from the protest on the streets to a clear path to the podium, from getting dragged on the road to taking down the unbeaten, from rehab room post surgery just a year ago to sparring sessions, from one weight category to another.
Tough life, but she wrestled on.

The first reaction on Susaki’s face after the defeat was like she didn’t know what it means when the referee raises the opponent’s hand. She had never experienced that at the end of an international match she fought in her career before facing Vinesh in Paris.
But that was that. A 3-2 win. Vinesh progressed, then beat Ukraine’s former European champion Oksana Livach in the quarters and Pan American Games champion Yusneylis Lopez Guzman of Cuba in the semis to become the first Indian female wrestler to reach an Olympic final.
Medal confirmed, but more than that, a chance to become the first Indian woman to win an individual Olympic gold medal now just six minutes away.
A consolation for Susaki as well. Vinesh reaching the final made the Japanese alive for repechage and bronze.

The only person in the world who can now stop Vinesh from becoming an Olympic gold medallist is Sarah Hildebrandt — her American opponent in the final, with an impressive record.
WHO IS SARAH ANN HLDEBRANDT
The 30-year-old Sarah, a bronze medallist from Tokyo Games and four-times World Champoinships medallist, made her international debut in 2013 in the 55kg weight category and went on to win the first of her seven Pan American Championships gold as a 19-year-old — after taking up the sport inspired by her two brothers who were also wrestlers.
Sarah choosing to wrestle was against the wish of her parents, who eventully came to terms with her decision after insistence by her middle school that wrote to them about their daughter’s skills in wrestling, according to information available on the Paris Olympics website.
Such was her build-up that her mother would end up being her sparring partner during practice sessions.
“When I started wrestling, my mum would come over to watch practices with just me and my coach and I would end up wrestling her. This sweet woman let me beat her up at 5:30 in the morning, for the sake of my improvement,” Sarah, who is the reigning Pan American champion besides being the bronze medallist from the 2023 Budapest World Championships, is mentioned as saying on the Paris 2024 website.
Over the years since arriving on the international mat 11 years ago, Sarah has switched from 55kg to 53kg, and then to her current weight division, 50kg.

SARAH’S ROAD TO THE FINAL
She began her Paris journey with an impressive 10-0 victory by technical superiority against Ibtissem Doudou of Algeria.
Sarah followed that up with a 7-4 triumph over China’s 2023 World Championships bronze medallist Feng Ziqi in the quarters.
In the semis, she defeated the 2023 World Championships silver medallist Otgonjargal Dolgorjav of Mongolia with a comfortable 5-0 win.

SARAH’S WRESTLING RITUALS AND THE FLASH CARDS
Before taking the mat in a match, Sarah’s favourite music is the AC/DC band, with her walkout number being the super hit song ‘Thunderstruck’.
Sarah, who trains at the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado, has an interesting ritual when it comes to studying her opponents — she makes flash cards.
“I literally make flash cards on opponents like I’m in school, just kind of study them when I am in the sauna, and stuff like that,” she told FloWrestling before arriving to Paris.

“Just going over things like what their first tie is, which way do I want to circle, their moves that may be frequent, some no-no’s at my end, like ‘let’s not even do that’…It just kind of keeps you fresh because I want my wrestling to be the main star when I step on the mat, the main thing I am focused on.
“Obviously I am going to come prepared. There are things specifically that I am going to do and not going to do against people. So just have an idea like let’s circle right after the whistle, or they are gonna do this after the whistle…just having those ideas in the back of your mind,” she added.
“When stuff starts rolling, it just comes naturally.”
On Wednesday, it won’t be the biggest match of the career for only Vinesh. Sarah, too, will be competing to win her first ever Olympic gold.
It’s going to be a contest.