Kyle Dake '13 collected a bronze medal in his last go round at the 2020 Olympics.
— Cornell Big Red (@CornellSports) August 6, 2024
The Lansing-native is set to take the mat in his second Olympics this Friday in Paris with his eyes on gold.#OlympiansMadeHere | #YellCornell | #OlympicIvyhttps://t.co/u2WKsakLnc
ITHACA, N.Y. - 153 senior freestyle bouts and 12 world medals later would be enough to soften any athletes purpose, but that is not the case for Kyle Dake '13. Eyeing his first Olympic Gold and the possibility of being the oldest American Olympic wrestling champion ever, Dake will take the mat at the 2024 Paris Olympics motivated by family, his love for wrestling, and his drive to be the best version of himself.
Dake took the mat for the first time on the senior freestyle level in 2011 during the United States University Nationals, with two NCAA titles to his name at two different weight classes. The sky was clearly the limit for the 20-year-old Lansing native. Dake, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers ever, has a trophy case that includes five world medals (four gold and one silver), a bronze medal to show for his 2020 Olympic performance, a slew of gold medals in Pan-American and U.S. Open competition, and four NCAA National Titles.
Dake's Passion and Purpose
Dake's first attempt at the U.S. Olympic Trials came in 2016 where he would put up a strong outing, defeating Richard Perry and David Taylor, but would fall 2-1 to eventual Olympic Bronze Medalist J'den Cox in the best-of-three final series.
During his 2020 Olympic Trials run, Dake personified dominance. In six matches, Dake outscored his opponents 42-2, including a 2-0 series sweep over world-renowned grappler Jordan Burroughs. After that feat, he would go on to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he claimed a Bronze Medal.
In the 2024 Olympic Trials, Dake only needed to win a best-of-three series against Jason Nolf since he earned automatic finals spot due to earning a world silver medal in 2023. He refused to give up a takedown as he would go on to out-score his fellow Nittany Lion Wrestling Club training-partner 7-2 in a 2-0 series sweep.
After clinching the United States Olympic Team for the second time in his career with a 2-0 series victory over Nolf, Dake spoke about how much his late father meant to him and his wrestling journey. "This is the first time that I have had to do this without him, and I really miss him and want to do him proud. It's hard to find the words to describe how much he meant to me", Dake emotionally said following the match.
Dake's approach to training and preparing for big matches is intense, but his perspective on wrestling in conjunction with the big picture of life is a humble one. "This [wrestling] is just a game. I do it because its fun, and luckily I get paid for it and I can do what I love? don't get me wrong wrestling does a lot of good for humanity, so if I can help wrestling evolve and become better then I feel like I'm doing my part".
Dake comes into the Olympics as the highest seed and the favorite to win gold, but he understands the preparation and focus that it takes to fulfill that projection is not to be overlooked. "There are 16 guys at the Olympics and all of them are really talented. I want to just go out there and compete and whatever that looks like it looks like, and I'll have fun in Paris when it comes" Dake said.
The Field
Dake's initial top two contenders in the 74 kilogram weight-class, Zaurbek Sidakov and Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov, were removed from Olympic contention by the International Olympics Committee.
In the wake of that development, Turan Bayramov and Georgios Kougioumtsidis will be Dake's highest-seeded contenders. Dake has taken the mat with Kougioumtsidis recently, earning a 4-1 decision in the semi-finals of the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, but has not been face-to-face with Bayramov in his career.
Below are the seeded and unseeded wrestlers:
Kyle Dake, USA
Turan Bayramov, AZE
Georgios Kougioumtsidis, GRE
Daichi Takatani, JPN
Khetik Tsabolov, SRB
Feng Lu, CHN
Tajmuraz Salkazanov, SVK
Bacar Ndum, GBS
Younes Emami, IRI
Anthony Montero, VEN
Viktor Rassadin, TJK
Razambek Zhamalov, UZB
Geandry Garzon, CUB
Iman Mahdavi, EOR
Cherman Valiev, ALB
Amr Reda Hussen, EGY
Frank Chamizo, ITA
Watch and Follow
The two days of Olympic freestyle wrestling is slated for Friday, August 9th and Saturday, August 10th at Champ-de-Mars Arena. The round of 16 is set to begin on Friday morning at 11:00 a.m. local time (5:00 a.m. ET), with the semifinals scheduled for the evening at 6:15 p.m. local time (12:15 p.m. ET). Day two will consist of the repechage and medal rounds.