Sarah Hildebrandt is retiring after winning Olympic gold in Paris to become a USA Wrestling national team assistant coach.
“A big part of it (the decision) was, obviously, I have had a really long career, and I’ve gotten to experience what wrestling has given and taught me,” Hildebrandt said. “It’s really just made me just so passionate about what this sport can do for people. ... If I can just bring a passion and energy in support to kind of help somebody on their journey, kind of like a door handle to open up their own adventure, that’s exciting to me.”
In Paris, Hildebrandt became the fourth U.S. woman to win Olympic wrestling gold, one day after teammate Amit Elor became the third.
Hildebrandt had thoughts about retiring after Paris both before and after the Games. But she also thought that way around the Tokyo Games.
After her Olympic gold, she wrote down every time she had a feeling about wanting to return to competition and every time she had a feeling about not wanting to return.
“I felt really nervous and, I don’t know, just off about still focusing only on myself,” she said. “I did feel this call to want to do something not just for me.
“I’m sure there will be moments where I’m like, oh, I’m ready to put on my singlet, but I’ll have those feelings the rest of my life.”
Helen Maroulis (Rio 2016) and Tamyra Mensah-Stock (Tokyo 2020) previously won Olympic titles.
Hildebrandt, 31, also won Olympic bronze in Tokyo, plus four world championships silver or bronze medals.
“It is not just what she has done; it is how she has done it,” national team coach Terry Steiner said in a press release. “She has been through everything. She was a kid who couldn’t make the national team and struggled. She made the world team and struggled. She got hurt. It was then that she realized things, took a pause and changed. Because of her experiences, there is not a person on our national team and around our program that doesn’t respect her. The respect is not just about her accomplishment in Paris; it is how she re-invented herself to become a great champion and a great human being. She will become a great coach.”
