Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hildebrandt gets overwhelmed after major development with leading wrestling brand

Sarah Hildebrandt made her feelings known after collaborating launch of her signature wrestling shoes with a leading wrestling brand. Hildebrandt was a force to be reckoned with at the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning the gold in the 50 kg category.

Sarah Hildebrandt competed at the 2020 Pan American Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament to secure a spot in the Tokyo Games. She made her Olympic debut in the Japanese capital, narrowly losing her semi-final match against Chinese player Sun Yanan. But in the bronze medal feat, she trounced Ukrainian Oksana Livach to win her first podium at the global event.

The 31-year-old vied for the gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics and achieved it after defeating Yusneylys Guzmán of Cuba in the finals. Besides wrestling, the American is going big with brand endorsements, becoming the first female signature athlete on the RUDIS roster. The leading wrestling brand announced the launch of Sarah Hildebrandt's signature line, set to release soon.

The two-time Olympian shared the news in her Instagram story, expressing anticipation, captioning:

"I just can't believe I have a wrestling shoe coming to you all sooo soon"

Sarah Hildebrandt reacts to her signature RUDIS shoe line; Instagram - @sarhilde

Sarah Hildebrandt boasts four World Championship medals, two silvers in 2018 and 2021, and bronze medals in 2022 and 2023.

Sarah Hildebrandt once talked about how she perceived herself differently in Paris after the Tokyo Games

Hildebrandt at the Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 12 - (Source: Getty)

Sarah Hildebrandt once opened up about how she looked past her authenticity and behaved like the common concept of a wrestler, impervious to pain, earlier in her career. In the Tokyo Olympics, she was more like a robot and didn't wrestle as the Sarah she is. Talking about her journey from suppressing her individuality to embracing it in Paris, the 31-year-old said:

"I felt like I was very machine-like in Tokyo. There wasn't a lot of Sarah essence in my wrestling, in my life. And I knew that if I was going to go try for Paris, that I was going to do it my way, and it was going to be Sarah. And that's what I spent the last three years doing. And I think that's truly the reason, including everyone around me who's helped me become the best version of myself, why I was able to find success." (Olympics.com)

"I had to turn inward as a lot of reflection. Learning to trust myself and believing in that. You get so much from external factors, but believing what my mind and heart are telling me, and just letting myself feel everything and trusting that," she added.

Hildebrandt won seven gold medals at the Pan American Championships and one at the Pan American Games in 2019.

About the author

Agnijeeta is a US Olympics journalist at Sportskeeda. She holds a Master’s degree in English and has worked as a school teacher, a blogger, a content writer and a sports writer over the past 5 years. A lover of high-adrenaline track and field events, she was also a sprinter during her school days.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone happens to be her favorite Olympian, and the athlete’s feat of breaking four records within 13 months inspires her, apart from the American's body language on and off the track. Grant Hackett swimming with a partially dysfunctional lung and winning gold in Athens is her all-time favorite Olympic moment.

Agnijeeta believes that deriving of unique angles from podcasts and interviews carried out by Olympics.com, along with hype-building of potential Olympic events on social media can help fill the coverage gap during the off season.

When not at her work desk, Agnijeeta likes to sing and paint. She also plays string instruments like guitar and ukulele and is an avid player of word puzzles.

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Edited by Agnijeeta Majumder