King grad Hildebrandt wins gold medal in Paris

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Staff reports

PARIS — Former King University women’s wrestler Sarah Hildebrandt won the gold medal on Wednesday at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Hildebrandt won four matches in two days to claim the honors, defeating Yusneylis Guzman of Cuba, 3-0, in the finals in the freestyle 50 kilogram weight class on Mat B at Champ-de-Mars Arena.

Hildebrandt was originally supposed to wrestle Vinesh Phogat of India, but Phogut was disqualified for not making weight for the match. Guzman advanced after losing to Phogot in the semifinals on Tuesday.

A 2015 graduate at King, Hildebrandt won three matches on Tuesday to advance to the gold medal match.

A native of Indiana, Hildebrandt had a stellar career at King for head coach Jason Moorman, earning All-America honors four times from 2012-15, claiming two individual national championships and also played a key role in two team titles for the Tornado.

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Hildebrandt, who fell short of qualifying for the Olympics in 2012 and 2016, earned a bronze medal for a third place finish in Toyko in 2021 before winning it all on Wednesday in dominating fashion.

“It is hard to put into words how happy and excited I am for Sarah and her family and her coaches and everyone and King University and Indiana and just everybody,” Moorman said. “It is the pinnacle. She has reached the pinnacle of her sport. It is something everybody dreams of when you get started and she has done it. I am just ecstatic for her.”

King University Vice President for Athletics David Hicks recalled that Hildebrandt had set winning a gold medal as a personal goal while attending school and wrestling in Bristol.

“It is unbelievable just to see somebody that we met as an 18-year-old freshman, to watch her mature while she was here and continue to mature and improve and work hard,” Hicks said. “It is just unbelievable to see her on that stage and to win a gold medal.

“It is the same person, you see the same smile, you see the same joy, the same happiness as she had when she was here. It is just awesome for her, I am so happy for her, I know this is a goal that she had set many, many years ago that she talked about when she was here. Just fantastic.”

Hildebrandt, who entered the Paris Olympics as a sixth seed, began her gold medal pursuit on Tuesday with an opening round 10-0 tech fall of Ibtissem Doudou of Algeria. That was followed by a quarterfinal win over China’s Feng Ziqi, who trailed Hildebrandt just 5-4 after one period before a takedown by Hildebrandt with 35 seconds left secured a 7-4 win.

Hildebrandt cruised in the semifinals with a 5-0 decision over Mongolia’s Otgonjargal Dolgorjav to advance to her first Olympic gold medal match. She was originally slated to wrestle Phogat, but her failure to make weight moved Guzman into the title match.

It was all Hildebrandt in the finals.

“It has been fun to watch her,” Moorman said. “It has been a long journey of over 20 years. I am just super grateful for King to have a four-year small part of her long journey. I am super grateful, a lot of gratitude.”

Hildebrandt, who has medaled in four world championship events, is the third King University athlete to compete in the Olympics and became the first to win a medal, defeating Oksana Livach of Ukraine to win the bronze medal in 2021 in Toyko, followed by taking the gold on Wednesday in a moment that will certainly bring some attention to King University and its athletic department.

“It is going to have a big impact, but it about what we try to do here with all of our coaches,” Hicks said. “Jason has built a national championship caliber program that has now produced two Olympians, two Olympic medals, but it is about the process, it is about what our mission is, what our values are and that is the same for women’s wrestling or women’s soccer.

“It just validates what we do and why we do what we do.”

Other King alumni to compete in the Olympics include women’s wrestler Haley Augello for the United States in 2016 and Kemar Hyman, who was part of the Cayman Islands track and field team in 2012 and 2016.

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