There were high expectations for the U.S. men’s freestyle wrestling team heading into the 2024 Olympics; instead, the six-man squad made history for all the wrong reasons.
2016 Olympic champion Kyle Snyder ended up as America’s last hope to claim a gold medal, but ultimately fell to Akhmed Tazhudinov—is originally from Dagestan but now representing Bahrain—in the semifinals at 97kg. Despite Snyder’s best efforts, he couldn’t produce enough offense and suffered a second straight loss to Tazhudinov after the 21-year-old phenom beat him 11-0 at the 2023 World Championships.
With Snyder’s loss, the U.S. men’s freestyle team goes home without a gold medal for the first time since 1968.
The 56-year run for the American team ends after many argued that the U.S. was sending its strongest team to the Olympics with multiple world champions and top-ranked athletes competing in 2024.
Sadly, the U.S. contingent struggled from the start with Mason Parris falling in the qualification round at 125kg after he took a roster spot once held by 2020 Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson, who left the sport to sign with WWE before turning to football where he currently plays for the Buffalo Bills.
Three-time NCAA champion and World champion Zain Retherford was shut out 8-0 by Iranian Rahman Amouzad in the opening round, ending Retherford’s chance for gold.
Former Iowa standout Spencer Lee had the best shot at the Olympics after he made the finals at 57kg but fell to Rei Higuchi from Japan. Lee still goes home with a silver medal in his first Olympics.
Aaron Brooks also suffered a stunning upset loss to Magomed Ramazanov from Bulgaria in his semifinal matchup at 86kg after making the Olympic team by beating 2020 gold medalist David Taylor. While Ramazanov went onto capture gold by defeating Iranian legend Hassan Yazdani, Brooks bounced back with a bronze medal win.
Kyle Dake, who has won four World Championships, was one of the heaviest favorites going into the Paris games, but he fell short in a wild match against Daichi Takatani from Japan via a 20-12 score. A scoring controversy in his bronze medal match had Dake shouting at the judges before he angrily returned to the mat where he tossed Hetik Cabolov from Serbia over his head to score five points to help secure the victory.
Dake leaves with a second bronze medal. At 33, this could potentially serve as his final Olympics.
While Snyder and Retherford still have a chance to win bronze, there were extremely high hopes that the American team could potentially bring home multiple gold medals after a strong showing during the 2020 games. The United States led all nations with nine total medal wins including gold medal victories for Taylor and Steveson.
Five of the six team members are still vying for medals, but these are not the results the U.S. squad expected heading into the 2024 Olympics.
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