Seven Pan-Am championships. A bronze medal from Tokyo. And now, the elusive Olympic gold.

Granger native and Penn High School alum Sarah Hildebrandt on Wednesday cemented her place in U.S. Olympic wrestling history, gutting through Cuba’s Yusneylys Guzman 3-0 to become Olympic champion in the women’s 50 kilogram (110 pound) weight class.

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In front of a sold-out crowd of 9,000 fans at Paris’ Champs-de-Mars Arena, which sits in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, Hildebrandt mostly out-maneuvered her defensive-minded opponent to score the necessary points while avoided a late counter in the waning seconds.

Wearing an all-blue Team USA singlet with white stripes on the back, the 30-year-old Granger native was all smiles as she entered the mat Wednesday. She clapped between her knees, slapped herself on the face a couple of times, and locked in as chants of “USA,” rang from her family and friends in the stands.

Hildebrandt scored her first and only two-point takedown with 4:50 to go in the six-minute bout. She earned her third point from a penalty on Guzman for inactivity.

Wednesday’s final capped a wild couple days for the women’s 50kg bracket. On Tuesday, gold-medal favorite Yui Susaki of Japan lost her first-ever international match, falling to India’s Vinesh Phogat in the first round after a takedown with just three seconds left in the match. Susaki, the defending Olympic gold medalist, was 82-0 in international competition before yesterday’s first-round upset.

Hildebrandt on Tuesday demolished first-round opponent Ibtissem Doudou of Algeria with a perfect 10-0 score, then gutted out a close 7-4 match with China’s Ziqi Feng that came down to the final seconds. The Granger native handled Mongolia’s Otgonjargal in the semi-final en route to Wednesday night’s final.

After beating Susaki, India’s Phogat cruised to the finals with a 7-5 win over Oksana Livach and a 5-0 shutout of Guzman, but shockingly failed to make weight on Wednesday morning. By stepping on the scales 3.5 ounces over the 50kg limit — about the weight of a deck of cards — Phogat was automatically disqualified. The DQ pushed Guzman into the gold-medal match against Hildebrandt.

Hildebrandt had previously faced Guzman just once, blanking her 10-0 in the semifinals of last year’s Pan American Wrestling Championships.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Sarah Hildebrandt wins Olympics gold in women’s wrestling at 50 kg