By Andrew Binner
Picture by 2023 Getty Images
Cael SANDERSONKyle Frederick SNYDERWrestling
Team USA may be sending their strongest-ever men’s wrestling team to a Games at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Headed up by 97kg Rio 2016 gold medallist Kyle Snyder and four-time world champion Kyle Dake, who will compete at 74kg, they have leaders that know how to perform on the biggest stages.
At 65kg, there is another world champion in Zain Retherford, who attributes his relentless work ethic to growing up on a pumpkin farm, while 125kg man-mountain Mason Parris, who won bronze at the 2023 World Championships, also made the plane.
At the other end of the experience scale, one of the sport’s most exciting young 86kg male grapplers in Aaron Brooks was also selected after eliminating reigning Olympic champion David Taylor at Trials.
Men’s 57kg wrestler Spencer Lee completes the line-up, having won the 2023 Pan American Games title and defeated three of his four opponents by technical fall in less than a minute at Trials.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we won six gold medals,” Snyder said at the USA Wrestling press conference ahead of competition at Paris 2024 in men’s freestyle.
“I think everybody could win if they wrestle their best on that day. So we have a very good team.”
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Kyle Snyder takes up the challenge
Snyder is marked out from his rivals by his remarkable consistency over the years, in what is one of the most attritional sports out there.
He has won a U.S. record nine consecutive Olympic and world medals despite the extremely high level of competition he faces each year both domestically and internationally.
So how has the Maryland man managed to stay at the sport’s top table over so many years and find the motivation to keep competing?
The answer lies in his appetite for learning and continually evolving his game.
An example of this came in 2019, when Snyder moved his base to Penn State’s Nittany Lions Wrestling Club in 2019 - an institution synonymous with success.
There, he trains with Paris 2024 teammates Dake, Retherford and Brooks, under the watchful eye of head coach and Athens 2004 Olympic gold medalist Cael Sanderson.
“I was told that Coach Cael could really help me with my mentality, but I really wanted help with my dang technique! But actually, he really helped me with my mentality. He’s really good at making people enthusiastic and happy and providing them with all the things they need to continue to improve. And he's very calm and he's really a great technician too,” said Snyder.
**“**I also like being in rooms where I’m really challenged. I wrestle Kyle Dake, I wrestle David Taylor, who just became the head coach at Oklahoma State. [Jake] Varner is an Olympic champ. So I like training and competing with those guys every day.”
Kyle Snyder during the men's wrestling freestyle 97Kg final at the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games (Photo by Getty Images)
Kyle Snyder is on a learning curve
Another cornerstone of Snyder’s success is his humbleness. Despite being one of the world’s most experienced wrestlers, he won’t miss an opportunity to learn off anyone he comes into contact with - even an Olympic rookie.
When Brooks caused the shock of the U.S. Trials in eliminating Taylor, Snyder knew he had something special.
**“**We got a guy on the team named Aaron Brooks in the weight class below me at 86 kilos and he’s a really good wrestler. I’ve learnt a lot from him in the past year, looking at the way that he moves and different things that he does that really annoy his opponents,” said Snyder.
“I was just thinking that’s pretty cool that I was learning from him this year because this is his first Olympic team; this is my 10th World or Olympic team. And you got this guy who’s teaching me.
“That’s what really helps me continue to get better and be able to compete. I learn from anybody and I want to get better and I want to be able to compete hard and win.”
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