Olympic wrestling gold medalist Amit Elor will miss next week's World Championships as she works her way back from pericarditis, an inflammation of tissue surrounding the heart.
"I’ve been gradually increasing exercise and testing out different workouts, it feels amazing to start training again," was posted on Elor’s social media. "However, I ran out of time to get even the bare minimum preparation needed for the World Championships. This timing and decision is especially hard for me because after missing last year’s Worlds during pregnancy and qualifying again at three months postpartum, I was so excited to finally compete on the world stage again. I wish things had been investigated further back in August when I first had chest pain and elevated troponin, instead of being sent home. I can’t help but wonder if knowing what was wrong back then, rather than continuing to train through it, would have given me enough time to recover and compete at Worlds. For now, I’m choosing to focus on the positives. I’m healthy enough to start training, I’m getting stronger every day, and the opportunity to compete will come again. Wishing the best of luck to all the competitors competing next week! Go team USA."
Elor is replaced on the team at 72kg by Precious Wieser for worlds in Astana, Kazakhstan.
At the Paris Games, Elor became at age 20 the youngest Olympic wrestling gold medalist in American history, extending a five-year, 82-match win streak.
She had son Aryeh in January, then returned to competition in May and earned the U.S. spot for worlds at 72kg.
In late August, she woke up one day "with unbearable chest and neck pain and ended up in the hospital with elevated troponin levels," she posted on Oct. 6. "After testing, including a stress test, I was told there was nothing wrong with my heart and I could continue training. So I did. The pain continued, and I was taking ibuprofen around the clock just to manage it (and if you know me, you know I hate medicine).
"During the first week of September, I started getting very high fevers, up to 104.4°F even on ibuprofen. I still went to World Team Camp at the Olympic Training Center, where I finally had a cardiac MRI showing pericarditis (inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart, often triggered by a virus). I was prescribed anti-inflammatories and told to stop all exercise. But the fevers continued almost every day. Last week, I spent most of the week in the hospital undergoing 50+ blood tests and an extensive workup. So far, everything points to a mysterious viral illness.
"After months of training, competing, traveling, motherhood, and balancing everything, I’m disappointed that my body forced me to take a break right now. I’m out of U23 Worlds, and Senior Worlds is still TBD.
"As frustrating as this is, I’m also incredibly grateful. Grateful it isn’t something worse. Grateful this didn’t happen before the Olympics. And grateful for the reminder that health is something we can never take for granted ❤️ I’ve been through many difficult moments in my life and career, and each one has made me stronger This one will too."