The U.S. men’s freestyle wrestling team faced a disappointing outcome at the 2024 Olympics, failing to win a gold medal for the first time in 56 years and securing only three total medals, with Kyle Snyder’s loss marking a significant letdown.
The overwhelming expectations for the U.S. men’s freestyle wrestling team came to a disappointing end at the 2024 Olympics. Kyle Snyder’s loss in his bronze medal match at 97kg marked a significant letdown.
Snyder fell to Iranian Amirali Azarpira by a score of 4-1. It was the first time the former Ohio State wrestler failed to win a medal during the Olympics or World Championships. The 28-year-old athlete, who won gold in 2016, struggled to gain any momentum. A cut opened on his forehead during an early exchange, leading to multiple stoppages as doctors tended to the gash.
Snyder’s loss ended the U.S. men’s freestyle competition in 2024 with a lackluster showing. All six weight classes had high hopes for multiple gold medals.
Instead, the U.S. men’s freestyle team has to go home licking their wounds. They failed to win a gold medal for the first time in 56 years and only captured three total medals in 2024 after winning five in 2020.
The outstanding performance at the Tokyo games, which actually took place in 2021 due to the global pandemic, put the Americans at the top of the sport. Gold medal wins by Gable Steveson at 125kg and David Taylor at 86kg plus claiming medals in five out of six weight classes had many believing that the U.S. team could do even better in 2024.
“I truly believe we can bring back six gold medals in men’s freestyle, which would be pretty remarkable,” Taylor told MMA Fighting prior to the Olympics. His career ended with a pair of losses to Penn State standout Aaron Brooks at the U.S. Olympic team trials. “This team is prepared.”
Taylor passed the torch to Brooks, a four-time NCAA champion. However, Brooks left Paris with a bronze medal after a stunning upset in the semifinals against Magomed Ramazanov from Bulgaria.
Out of the three medals won by the United States, only Spencer Lee made it to the finals in his weight class at 57kg but suffered a tough loss to Rei Higuchi from Japan.
Kyle Dake joined Brooks as another bronze medal winner from the U.S. men’s freestyle team. He battled back from early struggles to beat Hetik Cabolov from Serbia. Still, Dake definitely wanted Olympic gold after being heavily favored in both 2020 and 2024 but suffered upset losses both years.
Of course, the U.S. team didn’t have Steveson this time around after he opted out of wrestling to sign with WWE and then tried his hand at football with the Buffalo Bills. Steveson’s replacement Mason Parris lost in the opening round at 125kg and didn’t get pulled back into repechage rounds, ending his hopes for at least capturing a bronze medal.
There’s no doubt that the U.S. men’s freestyle team leaves Paris with a lot of work to do before returning for the World Championships. They hope for a much better result when the Olympics come to Los Angeles in 2028.