Dake '13 Rallies Back To Secure His Second Consecutive Olympic Bronze Medal
SOURCE: cornellbigred.com
August 10, 2024

 


PARIS, France - Kyle Dake '13 secured his second consecutive Olympic bronze medal on Saturday evening with his 10-4 victory over Hetik Cabolov (Serbia). The two-time Olympic medalist rallied back from a 4-1 deficit in the final 40 seconds to earn the win. He is the first repeat 74kg Olympic wrestling medalist since the Beijing Olympics in 2008 (Buvaisar Saitiev of Russia).

Dake vs Cabolov

Dake moved out on Cabolov with aggression at the beggining of the match. He would attempt the first shot, successfully gaining control of Cabolov's leg. Although Dake did not secure the take down, he would earn the opening point of the bout for a Cabolov step out.

With 2:27 to go in the match, Cobolov was put on the 30-second activity clock for passivity. When the official deems that one of the wrestlers is not on the attack, that wrestler will have 30 seconds to earn a point or else his opponent will be awarded a point for passivity.

With two seconds left on the activity clock, Dake seemingly earned a passivity point, but upon review Cobolov was awarded a point for a Dake step out to even the score at 1-1.

Dake and Cabalov aggressively returned to battle on the mat following the review stoppage. With Cobolov in on a shot, Dake attempted a chest-wrap move to no avail and conceded two points.

With 48 seconds on the clock, Dake's corner challenged the previously mentioned push out point from the passivity sequence, and would ultimately lose the challenge. In freestyle wrestling, losing a challenge results in a point given to the opposing side. This would give Cabolov an additional point and a 4-1 lead.

Trailing 4-1 after the failed challenge, Kyle Dake needed to put together a strong rally effort. He attacked Cobolov right away working his way to a flury that ultimately gained him a two-point take down.

After cutting the deficit to 4-3, Dake successfully worked his way to his patented 'Dake bomb" for five points, stamped with an additional turn to take a 10-4 lead that would prove to be insurmountable as time wound down.

Following the match Dake commented on his approach in the last 48 seconds following the failed challenge. "Either way you're down 3-1, 4-1. You still gotta score. So go score. Yeah, it was a weird time. And so it's just, go score points", Dake mentioned. He also talked through the sequence that led to the big move that put him ahead of Cabolov. "[I executed a] big snap, [then] he came around the corner [and] it was pretty much the same thing, the second time around he popped up [and] I was able to capitalize on that mistake and get a big throw" he described.

The Final Podium

Dake's second consecutive appearance on the Olympic 74kg podium makes him the first American to repeat since Kenny Monday at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and the first to go back-to-back since Buvaisar Saitiev of Russia successfully did in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.


GOLD: Razambek Zhamalov - Uzbekistan
SILVER: Daichi Takatani - Japan
BRONZE: Kyle Dake '13 - USA
BRONZE: Chermen Valiev - Albania


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